you totally almost killed me that one time (its okay i still love you)
by itachiboutit
Summary: it's cute, they're teens, and I'm not good at summaries; Naruhina ficlet, Boarding school AU, slightly based off @yuuba's baseball AU; The Last's plot line if you squint.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello my Naruto/Naruhina family! It's been a work in progress but here she is: my first NH story. The first of many hopefully, we'll see how this one turns out ;) Tell me watcha think! Happy reading!**

...

Naruto Uzumaki.  
Number 9 on Konoha Preparatory Academy's baseball team. Highest stats on the entire team by— not to toot his own horn— a whole lot.

Rivaled only by one Sasuke Uchiha, who couldn't even bring himself to come to practice half the time, was pretty much a dick, but also somehow happened to be his best friend.

Sasuke had always been a natural athlete, even from when they were little kids. In fact, Naruto hated him for it. How the girls were constantly fawning over the bastard and he hadn't ever seemed to care. Meanwhile, no one gave him the time of day. Sure he wasn't exactly the most studious person, like Sasuke was, or the most coordinated, like Sasuke was, or the most cool, like Sasuke— _No matter_, after years and years of long nights at the park, many recesses spent perfecting his aim, he went from bottom of the barrel to probably the best player in the entire region.

People everywhere knew who he was. Sure at first he was "that scruffy blond kid from the playoffs," but after his stellar performance at regionals now he was a campus superstar. It filled Naruto with a joy that he hadn't ever known before. He was being acknowledged, _loved_. He had done that kid with the worn out baseball mit, and missing front teeth proud. He was basically a celebrity now— he had his own freaking fan base, how cool was that?— but that was usually to his teammates' chagrin.

"Would you just hurry up and step up to bat already?"

Naruto stopped practicing his swings and glared at Kiba. He stood at first looking especially pissed.

"What's the problem? Lee doesn't seem bothered about waiting. Why can't you?" Lee was stand-in pitcher when Sasuke was out— Sasuke was often out— and always seemed like he was ready to burst with energy.

Naruto's favorite thing about him? How supportive he was of respecting Naruto's tendencies. Whatever pitcher says goes and if Naruto wanted to take a bit longer to dazzle his fans in the bleachers then according to Lee, "_We should all learn from Naruto. His fans think he is so amazing and we should strive to be great as well!"_

"We all know Lee's a fucking maniac. Would you just get your ass to home already?"

"No I can not, Kiba." He said pointedly. "If I'm going to carry this team then I need all the time I can get."

"You idiot, you've been holding up to entire game just standing there flexing for your stupid fans!"

Naruto dropped his bat dramatically, eliciting a chorus of boos from the girls, "Am not!"

(Okay, maybe just a little.)

"Naruto," a quite bored looking Shikamaru sighed from where he leaned against the dugout. "Could you hurry this up so we could all just go home already?"  
Murmurs of agreement rang across the field. With a huff, the blond picked up his bat at trudged to home.

"You guys're just jealous," he muttered as he started his pre-batting ritual. Crack the left shoulder. Then the right. Shake out the right hand and firmly grip the bat. Run his fingers along the rim of his cap, making sure it was perfectly crooked backwards in true Naruto fashion. The ritual ended with him shooting the pitcher his signature grin of victory because when Naruto Uzumaki stepped up to bat, he'd already won the whole game.

He could hear Kiba groaning and a few "finally"s from his teammates as Lee readied his pitch. With as much flair and theatrics as his coach, he swung his arm back and threw with unbelievable force.

Cobalt eyes fixed squarely on his target, Naruto smirked and brought his bat crashing hard into the ball. The delighted cheers of the girls congregated at the fence only spurred Naruto on as he proudly watched his ball fly high over everyone's head. He noticed that the outfielders didn't even bother trying to catch it, having enough of an understanding about the power Naruto packed in his swing.

There was nothing better than the sight of a ball soaring through the air on as crisp an afternoon as this one. It flew farther and farther and _farther_ till it cleared the fence and probably would have traveled a few extra feet had it not clocked someone square in the forehead.

...

"Your sister has been slacking off a bit lately so I expect you to come by after rehearsals. Bring Neji. I plan to give Hanabi a reference to a few positions and you could probably use some tuning yourself while we're at it. That form of yours has probably gotten lazy." A pause. "Hinata?"

She flinched, "Er, um...sure."

"What was that?"

"Yes Father."

With that he hung up, leaving Hinata Hyūga staring at her black cellphone screen, a frown etched on her face. Not one phone call to ask how she was doing. Never, "How are you?" or "How's school? How's that speech course you're taking going?" Well it's not like she was ever really honored with a conversation focusing on her well-being.

Discussions with her father usually centered around her younger sister Hanabi and how she was doing so well in the Hyūga Academy of Fine Arts, just to spite her. Hinata had grown up under her father's strict tutelage since she could walk. He had been breeding her to be the next big thing. And then there was the dreaded recital.

The recital in which, after her resounding failure, her father began to look at her as the disappointment she was. She was 8 meant to perform in front of her father's esteemed colleagues. The dance was brutal for someone of her level of proficiency, though her father refused to see that, and she was far too soft spoken to even say anything, not that he would listen.

When she had finally stepped up on stage— much bigger than she ever anticipated— and looked out upon those cold, calculating faces of her father's colleagues, she cracked. Looking back, Hinata considered herself lucky that she even moved. She had been petrified. Her shaking limbs hesitantly went along with the routine as best as she could until _that one impossible move_ and ended up falling over her own feet, embarrassing her father and causing her to be the object of scorn in the dancing world from then on.

She should have hated it. Dancing. It had shaped her entire life, telling her when she could make friends, when she could do what she wanted to do because "Father I don't want to dance today" was _not_ something that could be said.

It caused her _so much pain _yet she could never bring herself to hate it. She _loved_ it. Speaking was never Hinata's strong suit and with dance she could express herself in ways words had fallen flat. It had become a crucial part of who she was and once she had found herself, she couldn't let it go.

At age 12, Hinata had decided that that was what she wanted to do. Professional dance. Ballet. Which was why she went here, Konoha Preparatory Academy, to her father's disdain. "_Why attend some second rate school when you could be dancing with the country's finest?"  
_

She knew her father and she knew the institution. How brutal it was, specifically. She'd wanted to go here, where she could be free from her father's eyes and just dance without him slamming his cane down on the floor, stopping the music and insisting louder and louder that she could do better. "_Again!_" Or so she thought.

Every week she had to return home and give her father a weekly report, which usually consisted of an assessment of her technique, to which he always found fault, and a glance at her performance scores. Since ballet was all that mattered in the eyes of her father, he never even cared to ask if she was passing Algebra.

The Hyūga sighed, laying her head down on her pillow. Everything was constantly happening too quickly for her to even process. She had to practice, practice, practice (or else), but that didn't mean time stopped for her other responsibilities.

So she spent whatever time she wasn't dancing, which was _all the time_, studying, catching up on her other work, and consequently, sleeping just didn't seem to fit into her schedule. Hinata was sure that she'd forget to eat if it weren't for the fact that her father forced meals upon her for she must keep her body in "tip top shape."

She closed her eyes. She was just..._exhausted_.

A knock on her door roused her from any type of sleep. Knowing who it was, she mumbled an "it's open" and her visitor let himself in.

"Hey, Nata," Kiba greeted cheerily, launching himself onto her bed. A second presence followed shortly after, coming up to lick her face. Kiba Inuzuka, her best friend and the other reason she wasn't completely starved, and _his_ best friend, Akamaru. At her lackluster response, he shook her leg, "Hey, what's up?"

She sat up and put on one of her smiles, screwing her eyes shut, "Nothing's wrong. Just taking a nap before rehearsal."

Though not entirely convinced, Kiba shrugged, resting his head on Akamaru's side.

"Where are you off to?" She asked noticing the bag he'd left at her door.

"Practice. Well, first to take Akamaru to the kennel." At this, Akamaru whined. Kiba scratched behind the dog's ear, "I know buddy, but stupid administration says I can't keep you alone in the dorms anymore." He turned to her, "Naruto's waiting downstairs for me, I just wanted to make sure you were still alive."

"Oh ha ha," she said dryly, turning away to hide her blush.

Kiba eyed her, "And you sure you don't want to come see Naruto? I mean besides you, that idiot's one of my closest friends. You guys should hang out."

"I, er, no thanks! We weren't that close when he left so I don't even think he'd remember me," she insisted. Little did Kiba know that she had her Speech and Debate class with him and also sort of harbored a major crush on him since they were freshmen.

He'd left the academy for about two years and came back new and improved. And although they'd had been lab partners in physical science, she was far too shy to strike up any conversation, even after all this time.

Besides, he had too many girls running after him anyway. What was the point of joining in? Before they had become friends, he'd called her weird and creepy once and that little thought always kept her away.

"Well," He got up from her bed, "Have fun, Nata, I'll call you later."

"Sure," She gave his companion a rub behind the ears, "Bye Akamaru."

Once she was sure Kiba was well down the hall, she crept over to her window. Sure enough, a certain blond was waiting down below. Hinata was sure that he couldn't see her from all the way up there but she hid behind her curtains nonetheless.

_Naruto..._ Hinata sighed to herself.

The first time she had met him he'd been so happy to have been accepted into such a prestigious school. After working his ass off, he had bragged, he'd _finally_ made it.

Everyone thought he was annoying and loud but he made Hinata smile that day. Her father had begrudgingly dropped her off and barely even stayed for the opening ceremony. (He was still pretty upset about her decision to audition for this school and not his.)

After he left, Hinata was pretty nervous about the whole thing. She was all alone. But Naruto somehow made her adjustment less of a struggle. He was constantly her source of happiness and warmth for the duration of his time there. He wasn't particularly the most..._learned_ scholar but he was determined to be better than everyone else.

He was going to be a pro athlete! He said so often with such absolutism that it left her stunned. He was so certain of the things he wanted and nothing anyone said mattered because _he_ was in charge of his life. She wanted to be just like him.

Then one day he had to leave. Hinata had heard he was doing some special study abroad program, but she hadn't even gotten to say goodbye. After crying about it for a week, she came to terms with the fact that she'd never see him again.

Then one day walking into Speech and Debate, she caught a glimpse of a familiar head of unruly hair, and she had dropped her books in the doorway. All eyes had rushed to her and she hastily collected her things and sat as far in the back as she could, face ablaze.

He was different. A good different. More mature, which was strange for Hinata to see, but other than that, he was still him, he was still Naruto. She could do nothing as her feelings only grew throughout the semester.

Ever the master of being invisible, she was certain Naruto hadn't noticed her yet and she wanted to keep it that way. However, she knew it was a matter of time before her teacher realized that she hadn't spoken out loud and call her to the front when she had to face him. She'd probably embarrass herself.

Hinata winced and clenched the drapes.

When Kiba and Naruto were out of her sight, she drew her curtains and flopped unceremoniously onto her bed. Checking her phone, she gaged that she had a little over thirty minutes until her class began. Nothing, she yawned, a little shut eye wouldn't do…

…

A text message buzzed her phone to life. Hinata blearily rubbed at her eyes. She rose an arm above her head, stretching as she checked her messages. Realizing what time it was, she almost popped her shoulder out of place. She'd overslept! Several texts from her cousin Neji asked where she was and if she was aware that her father would kill her if she skipped class.

Yes of course she knew that which was why she flew out of bed, throwing a bag together with all of her equipment in panic. She had less than 5 minutes to get across campus and she was glad that she'd decided to get dressed beforehand. Barely even sliding into a pair boots, she ran out of her dorm, not caring if she had closed the door.

Sprinting across campus proved more difficult than Hinata had hoped. Her usual route would ensure her tardiness— she took a longer route maybe just to pass by a certain someone. There was quite frankly no other way unless, she thought, panting at the crossroads, she could cut through the sports fields.

Hinata wasn't certain but there weren't any major practices going on so the fields should've been relatively devoid of people. The less people saw her, who'd just rolled out of bed and would be a sweating mess in no time at all, the better.

The Hyūga made her way towards the football field, almost running into a few joggers who were using the track that encircled it. She called back an apology and continued running. The Performing Arts building was in sights, Hinata noticed in relief. She just had to get past… _Oh no_.

How could she have forgotten Kiba specifically telling her that there was baseball practice today. What if someone recognized her? She wasn't exactly the most presentable at the moment.

From where she had stopped, she examined the field. No she wasn't searching for Naruto but it was useful— and a bit painful— information to know that he was entertaining his fans. With a deep breath she sped on, taking advantage of his preoccupation.

_Just don't look_, Hinata told herself. _Don't look and it won't matter. Just pretend there isn't anyone over there. _

The sound of girls booing only disproved her mantra. They weren't talking about her, were they? Wincing, she ran on, determined not to even look at _him_ because she knew she'd make a fool of herself and trip or _something_.

She pushed on even as commotion on the field ensued. Kept going as metal bat clashed with ball. Slowed as calls of warning came from the field. Came to a halt as they got louder and more urgent. She stopped where she was, noticing that everyone in fact was looking at her (mission failed) and waving their arms around.

Hinata was admittedly having trouble understanding what they were saying until she caught the words "above you." Lavender eyes slowly looked up at the sky and then she had a perfect view of the Performing Arts building behind her as sudden impact sent her head flying back. After that though, all she could see was stars.

…

The sun is a star. She'd retained that much from science classes over the years.

When the bright colors of the stars faded she found herself staring straight up at the sun. It was a well known fact that staring too long could blind a person but Hinata was to dizzy to even notice. Blue, concern ridden eyes started down at her and once the buzzing in her ears stopped, Hinata could recognize him speaking to her.

"Hey, can you hear me now? Are you alright?"

She could feel her face heating up at his close proximity and had trouble finding words.

"I...I um,"

A new, painfully familiar voice entered the fray, "_Naruto, you fucking idiot!_"

She winced at the sound of impact to the back of Naruto's head. His ratty orange hat was sent flying into the dirt and the blond glared at Kiba, rubbing his head, "What was that for?!"

"If for once you'd deflate _your stupid ego_, this wouldn't have even happened!" Kiba was kneeling at her side, helping her sit up. "Hinata are you okay?"

"Yeah, Kiba I'm—"

"I had it _handled_, Kiba," Naruto swiftly socked his teammate in the shoulder.

"_Ow_, what the—"

Naruto took Hinata in his arms and she froze. Her heart was pounding in her ears, and she barely registered what he said.

"Hey I'm really sorry. Sometimes I can get carried away, you know? You're not hurt are you?" He looked genuinely sorry and all Hinata could do was stare.

_Make cognizant sounds Hinata! Go on, you can do it!_

"I—"

"Naruto!" A quickly approaching voice called. Another one of their teammates came sliding up to them. By his haircut and sheer exuberance, Hinata recognized him as one of Neji's friends, Lee, if she remembered correctly.

His forehead kissed the dirt as he bowed before her. "Please forgive me. It was my pitch that caused Naruto to hit with such power. Part of the fault is mine and I am truly sorry."

"It's okay really I—"

She felt warm liquid working its way down her nose. Her hand flew to her forehead and she almost passed out when blood stained her fingertips.

Lee gasped loudly and continued bowing and sputtering profuse apologies. Naruto had blanched and Kiba was glaring daggers at him, "You're a dead man, Uzumaki."

The rest of the team arrived and they all circled her, and Hinata really wished that she were dead. Realizing why she was there in the first place, she knew that her wish might become a reality.

Class had no doubt started by now, about twenty boys were staring at her in her sweatpant wearing glory, and Naruto Uzumaki of all people was hovering beside her.

"Please allow me to take you to get some medical assistance!" Lee cried.

"That really isn't necessary, it's probably not that bad." She insisted, wanting everyone to just stop staring at her and maybe also leave her there so she could die of mortification.

"Not that bad?" Kiba echoed. "Hinata, I'm not letting you go anywhere else until you get that seen to. Naruto," the Inuzuka gave him another smack to the back of his head. "You're going too."

Naruto tore his eyes away from her (she just realized his eyes had been fixed on her) and up to Kiba, "_I know that!_"

She was so disoriented that the speed of Lee scooping her up and depositing her on his back left her spinning.

"Wha— What are you doing? P-Put me down."

"Relax!" Lee smiled, stretching his legs, "I've done this exercise many times before and it will contribute towards my training!"

"B-But I-I…" Hinata stammered. "_Kiba_!" She really needed an out of this situation or she might keel over out of utter humiliation.

Her best friend proved no help as he shrugged, "If Lee's offering, I don't see a problem. We'll all go."

Suddenly she was effortlessly shifted from one back to another and the blood rushed to her face as she stared down at a head of gold.

"I'm the one that did it, the least I can do is take her."

Lee turned to Naruto, "But it was the impeccable pitching style of Guy-Sensei that caused me to—"

"Would you two cut it out already." Shikamaru Nara groaned. "At this rate she'll bleed out and that'd be a total drag. If it means that much to you two weirdos take turns or something but I suggest we get going."

This really couldn't have been happening. It was all a dream. It had to be. She _was not_ trekking across campus, a whole baseball team in tow, on the back of the most enthusiastic person she had ever seen in her life and then Naruto, with his jacket sloppily wrapped around her head because no one had had anything to stop the bleeding.

But when they finally arrived at the nurse's station — all twenty-_one_ of them, a group of sweaty boys carrying a dazed ballerina, and received the strange looks of other students. The heat on her face was all too real to deny.

...


	2. Chapter 2

**Authors Note:**

**It's been a minute but I thank everyone for all the feedback! Updates will usually fall on Fridays, Saturdays, or Sundays. I do like to take extra time, this go around, to proofread as much as I can (even though there are still mistakes lol) so forgive me for the long waiting periods, I try to have a chapter lined up and ready after releasing one so it's not too terribly long of a wait. Anyways, happy reading and enjoy our two favorite dorks!**

...

Naruto was _not_ an observant person. Really, it was quite ridiculous sometimes.

He hovered over the dazed girl and he knew he should've immediately checked to make sure she was okay, but he found himself staring at her for a moment, and something inside him was saying that he should've known who she was.

She was really out of it when Naruto nudged her a few times and yeah he most definitely should have done something other than sitting there racking his brain for something he had a feeling was pretty obvious, but it was _really_ bugging him.

He waved a hand in front of her suddenly fluttering eyes, calling out to her, "Hey, are you good? Can you hear me?"

She seemed responsive enough after a while and Naruto sighed in relief, "Sorry, sometimes I can get carried away, you know?"

It was then that he looked down at her face— her _eyes_— and it hit him like a truck. _Hinata_.

He didn't believe it at first. _Couldn't_ believe it. This was little Hinata? It couldn't be. Maybe someone related to her. Another cousin? No, her features were too similar to his old friend's to be anyone else.

A guilty feeling formed in the pit of his stomach. He'd reunited with all his friends from back in the day, except for her. He ultimately figured that she'd changed schools or something. Her dad had always been the overbearing type, constantly threatening to take her out of the school, and there was no sign of that timid, quiet girl anywhere. At the time, it was the only thing that made sense.

Naruto didn't have a lot of common sense either.

Kiba came running up yelling something and next thing he knew, Naruto was holding his buzzing head.

"What the hell was that for?"

And of course Kiba yammered about his ego and all and Naruto had already heard enough of that from him for half an hour. He did notice, however, that Hinata was not in his grasp like she had just been, rather, she was now being assisted by Kiba.

He spoke gently to her and Naruto wondered how it escaped him that Kiba and Hinata were best friends.

Naruto felt stupid just sitting there when he was the one that knocked her on her ass, and it really seemed that Kiba was trying to make him look bad— _worse_.

He punched Kiba in his shoulder, muttering through clenched teeth,"I had it handled, Kiba."

Easily, he maneuvered Hinata back into his hold and he felt her muscles tense. Maybe snatching her around like she was the last ball on the playground wasn't the best thing to have done.

While he was busy cringing over that thought, he heard Lee yelling in the distance and before he could get a word in, the pitcher was on his knees, head buried in the dirt, apologizing for what happened.

Last time he checked, it was _his_ ball that he hit into her head. He was about to tell everyone to knock it off and clear out when Lee gasped, loud and dramatically (well, more so than usual).

Naruto's eyes flick over to Hinata and she was holding a bloodstained finger in front of her face, looking like she was going to puke.

He felt himself pale. He didn't think it was _that_ bad.

Kiba only punctuated the fact, making a promise to end him.

Recovering from shock, it was then Naruto decided he was going to step up and show her that he could take responsibility after everyone upstaged him. He was about to. But he was stuck staring at her for a moment.

_That_ was Hinata.

People sure do change.

His responses from then on were painfully late, to his embarrassment. Offering to take her to the nurse should've been the first thing he did, meanwhile Lee had already done so and was going to carry her on his back the whole way.

Naruto lamely offered to do the same and he could almost feel Hinata's disdain of the whole situation.

_She probably hates me,_ Naruto thought gravely. _The first thing I do when I see her again is almost bash her brains in? _What an excellent friend he was turning out to be.

...

He stood watching Hinata with a critical eye in the infirmary. Honestly, Naruto couldn't help it, she was almost unrecognizable. She no longer had that short haircut, her midnight locks flowing all the way to her waist. He noticed she held herself differently. She sat straighter. She wasn't burying herself in layer upon layer of clothes. Her hands weren't drawn up at her chest—

"_Naruto_!"

He was grateful that Sakura interrupted his thoughts. Checking someone out that you haven't seen in years wasn't the most proper thing to do.

"Would you stop staring at Hinata? She's going to bleed out if you keep this up."

Naruto didn't quite understand what that meant but it was probably best that he stopped eye-balling her. He averted his gaze towards the ceiling, and with the holes Kiba was burning into the side of his head, he was sure that his teammate was going to make good on his promise to murder him. Sakura, standing in for their regular nurse while she ran "errands" (drinking), turned towards Hinata and checked to make sure her bandages were secure.

"How are you feeling? Dizzy at all?"

"No, I'm fine really," Hinata smiled. "Thank you."

Her voice sounded different too. The stutter was gone. That surprised him. Hinata was practically known for her stutter.

Naruto risked another glance towards her but Kiba had already taken up shielding her from him. He rolled his eyes, he hadn't even gotten to say anything to her since they got there and he still felt like a major dick.

Sakura spoke, "I don't think you have a concussion. Seems like he just broke the skin and bruised it a little," his friend gave him a pointed glare. "Worse case scenario is that it leaves a scar."

"A _scar_?" Ino echoed from where she was perched. The blonde hopped over and melodramatically wrapped her arms around Hinata, "It's so lucky that you have those bangs of yours, Hinata, otherwise I'd have to tear Naruto a new one for ruining your pretty face."

"Thanks so much Ino," he grumbled. "I already feel bad enough as it is."

"And you should," Kiba snapped. "If you weren't such a goddamn idiot—"

"—Fuck off Kiba—"

"—then maybe you'd be more careful and—"

"—Would you two shut it—"

"Everyone really," Hinata's voice broke through the commotion. (Since when could she do _that_?) "I'm fine. It's okay. Really, it was my fault. I was in the way I—"

"Hinata!" A new voice entered.

Naruto almost audibly groaned. Neji. Yet another person to make him feel even worse about this whole situation.

Neji marched over to his cousin, Lee in tow, slipping easily past Kiba, "What happened? Are you okay?"

"Fine Neji. Honest."

"Neji, my friend," Lee was practically weeping. "I'm so sorry. After pitching an excellent ball to Naruto, he hit it with such an unbelievable strength that it caused poor Hinata to wind up here!"

"Naruto here almost killed her." Kiba clarified.

"What?" Neji's scrutinizing glare was on him now. Naruto had never been too fond of Neji and he was sure the latter felt the same. With the way his eyes were boring into Naruto's soul, he made a mental note to kill Lee and Kiba if Neji didn't unleash his seven years of jiu jitsu on him first.

All Hinata's cousin did was close his eyes along with a deep exhale through his nose before addressing his cousin, "If you're sure you're feeling better we should get going, Hinata. It's almost 5."

A look passed across her face and she slid off the examining table, "Yes, you're right. Thank you very much Sakura." She bowed. Naruto believed that she was going to say something to him next and he was busy formulating what he would say when Kiba slung an arm over her shoulder, blocking her path.

"I'll walk you out, Nata."

Lee exclaimed, "Yes I will as well!"

Before he knew what was happening, Kiba, Neji, and Hinata were gone.

Naruto crossed his arms over his chest, watching the doorway.

"See something you like, Naruto?" Ino teased.

He snapped out of his daze and shook his head, "_No_, I just... can't believe that's Hinata. She seems so different."

"Hinata's a female, Naruto," Ino said matter-of-factly. "We are much more prone to metamorphoses and bettering ourselves than you lunk heads. Hinata's grown a whole lot."

Smiling, Sakura nodded in agreement, "For once, I can't blame you, Naruto. It's almost like she's a whole new person."

"Really?" Naruto hummed.

"Still, you mean to tell me you've gone this entire time without seeing her? That sounds impossible. Even for you."

"You guys said it yourselves," he shrugged. "She looks way different. Like _way_ more than the rest of you guys."

He'll admit that he deserved the smack to the back of his head for that one.

Ino scoffed, rubbing her fist, "Typical Naruto. That girl admired the shit out of you and you don't even give her the time of day."

"Well he did almost kill her so I suppose that's just Uzumaki hospitality for you." Sakura interjected.

"Hey! You said it wasn't that bad...was it?"

Ino shook her head, "Not the type of thing you do to an old friend. You have to make it up to her somehow."

"Yeah...You're probably right," He grinned, "Think she likes ramen?"

…

Hinata closed and locked the door to her room before adjusting the bag on her shoulder. She stood for a moment, staring at her hand on the door.

"_You're late."_

_She looked down to the floor, "Sorry, Father I um was…"_

"_She was asking for notes at the end of class. Critiques on her performance for the day." Neji glanced at Hinata and she silently thanked him._

_Her father nodded slowly before bringing his cane down in front of the three Hyuga children._

Hinata snapped her head up, the sound of wood against wood making her skin crawl. She shook out her arms and silently made her way down the hallway.

A typical Saturday morning for Hinata Hyuga consisted of waking up at 6:30 just to get a good warm up in at the gym. Class at 7:30 to 12, a lunch break probably should have followed but 12:15 to 1:45 consisted of helping the younger classes with their lessons. Pointe was from 2 to 3:30, accro from 3:50 to 5, and typically rehearsals lasted from 5:30 to 8:45.

A pretty merciless schedule, but audition season was coming up and she had to be at her best. Her father confirmed her suspicions that she was far from it.

"_Sloppy, Hinata. Did you see how Neji did it? Hanabi come show your sister. This isn't hard."_

That's when the tremors began. Her hands would shake and her performance would get worse and worse until her father got too frustrated and dismissed them for the evening.

Hinata descended the stairs, putting herself in a mood all over again. She really shouldn't have been as afraid of her father as she was. There was just this deep seeded doubt and shame that always appeared when she performed in front of him.

"You're a talented dancer, Hinata." Neji told her one day. "You just need to start believing in yourself."

She sighed, he was right. Self-confidence was always something that eluded her. Over the years she concluded that maybe if she worked herself hard enough then maybe she'd be better. She could show her father that she was a great dancer. And once she got into Otsutsuki School of Performing Arts, that would show him, and herself too.

She exited the dormitory with renewed spirits, the rising sun nearly blinding her. Hinata nearly jumped out of her skin when someone appeared out of the blue in front of her.

She figured that the newcomer saw how startled she was and raised his hands stepping closer to her, "It's alright. It's just me."

She knew her eyes were bugging out of her head and her long forgotten stutter made a come back, "N-Naruto?"

He smiled and she felt her knees go a bit weak. Shaking her head she stood straighter, she wasn't that same lovesick girl she was in the ninth grade. They were both different people now. More mature, right?

"Hey, Hinata. Long time no see," he greeted casually and it almost felt like this wasn't the first time in years since they'd spoken.

"I um...yeah. Yeah. G-Good to see you too."

He suddenly sighed to himself.

Most likely seeing the anxiety written on her face, he clarified, grinning, "Ino and Sakura were talking about you being really different but really you haven't changed at all."

_What?_ She frowned. Hinata could have sworn she'd gone through this whole metamorphosis. She'd stopped wearing all those big hoodies, her hair was longer, she didn't stutter as much— well at least not around _him_. She didn't want to seem like that terrified little girl.

"Oh?" She mumbled, eyes skirting to the ground, that self confidence flowing down the drain. "That's funny…"

"I mean, yesterday I could barely recognize you. You looked so different. _Look_, I mean, heh. You barely _look_ like who you used to be, but just hearing you talk, you're still Hinata."

She didn't know whether to be flattered by any of what he said, but her eyes gradually ran back up to his general face area. Not direct eye contact but she considered it progress.

"Like Sakura for instance, man she used to get on my nerves with all that Sasuke stuff, but now? I can have a normal conversation with her," he chuckled. "Good changes, you know?"

"O-Of course."

His eyes widened a bit and he knocked his head with his fist, "Oh right duh. I didn't come to talk about Sakura. I came to apologize. For yesterday."

She shook her head, "Oh no, it's okay—"

"Nah, Kiba was right. I kinda went overboard. Anything for the fans, you know?"

She got a gross taste in her mouth but she forced a smile, "Yeah."

His eyes fell on her bag, "Where are you off to?"

"Huh?" She looked away from his face and down to her bag, which she'd forgotten all about. "Oh. The gym."

He raised a bemused brow, "Really? I never took you for one of the hardcore gym-ing types."

"I'm not," She sheepishly brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. "It just helps me warm up."

"Oh yeah totally."

She redirected the conversation, flustered by his attention, "So what about you? How's baseball coming?"

"Really good," His face lit up. "My stats are like _way_ better than freshman year. They've got scouts and stuff coming and they say I've already got it in the bag, but I don't know about that." He rubbed the back of his neck, grinning bashfully.

"Why not? You're amazing," She almost slapped a hand over her mouth. Those words were _exclusively_ for her thoughts, yet they had fallen so easily out of her mouth. As much as the statement was true, it was still painfully embarrassing to say to his face and she could feel her face getting hot.

Naruto didn't seem to notice the sentiment behind the statement, "You always did believe in me, didn't you?"

"W-Well it's true. You've got a lot of t-talent."

His smile only got bigger. Basking in the rays of his bright smile only made her face hotter but it was worth it.

"What about you? You're still a dancer right? Ballet?"

She blinked, "You remembered?"

He blew a raspberry, "Of course. It was like one of the only things you'd tell me about yourself."

"Really?" She cringed. "I'm sorry. I was really shy wasn't I?"

"That never bothered me," He said as if insinuating it was the most absurd thing in the world. "You know, you're not the one who's supposed to be apologizing here. I'm the one who almost gave you a concussion."

"Oh," She let out a breathy chuckle. "Right."

He flicked a finger towards her face, "How's your head?"

"Just a little sore but—"

He interrupted her with a hand on her forehead raising her bangs for inspection. Her skin ignited and she took a giant leap backwards.

"W-What a-are you d-doing?"

He seemed completely unaffected, "Checking how it's is healing up. I've had more than my fair share of injuries in my day, in case you wanted an expert's opinion."

"I-I'm fine t-thank you." She was going into shut down mode and unless she wanted to collapse right then and there, she needed to leave.

She slipped past Naruto, issuing a hasty goodbye, "T-Thank you for stopping b-by, Naruto, but I-I've really got to go."

"Uh sure thing," He replied, obviously stunned by her sudden rushing. "Oh hey Hinata?"

She stopped, turning slightly.

"Wanna go get dinner?"

She almost fainted right then and there.

"W-What… w-what for?"

He snorted, "I hit you in the head with a ball the other day."

"Y-Yeah but I'm sure you're busy with the scouts and all. Training and such? Yeah. Don't worry about me, it really is okay."

He stuffed his hands in his pockets, "I don't mind. Believe it or not Hinata, I still feel pretty guilty. And besides, it's been years since I've seen you, what better way to catch up with old friends than over a bowl of ramen?"

"You do know," she knew she probably shouldn't have but it was worth mentioning. "We take Speech and Debate together?"

Naruto's eyes widened comically and his jaw dropped open, "You're kidding. Please tell me I'm not that big of an idiot, we've been in that class for months, what the hell?"

She shrugged, smiling a bit.

"Well now I _have_ to buy you dinner. Are you free around like 7? Maybe all of us could get back together. You know, the old gang."

"Uh…" Dinner with Naruto? It was a dream come true! It was… _Oh_. Hinata realized suddenly, that fantasy bubble that stopped all time and blocked out the outside world popped. Right. She had her audition to prepare for. Her _future_.

She was working on bettering herself. The way she saw it she wasn't good enough yet. Not for herself, not for her father, not for Otsutsuki, and definitely not for Naruto. Hinata sheepishly tugged at her fingers, an old habit, "I might be busy later on."

"Oh," his face fell but brightened up again in that classic Naruto way, "If you're free you should stop by."

"O-Okay." She nodded.

He yawned, stretching his arms over his head, "Well it was nice catching up, Hinata. I'm going to go get a few more hours of shut eye before I really have to wake up."

"Oh my gosh, I'm sorry! Did you get up early because of me?"

Naruto turned on his heel, tossing a smile behind his shoulder, "Stop apologizing all the time!"

"Oh...kay." She mumbled to herself, watching his form retreat down the sidewalk.

…

So Hinata's resolve was apparently not very good. She said that there was no point in chasing some foolish daydream when she had her own future to focus on. A part of her pointed out that she'd earned the break. She never went out anymore. Hinata barely spent any time with her friends.

Pushing away her selfishness, she decided to go. She practically ran there if she was being honest. She was nervous… and excited. Mostly nervous though.

She arrived at a ramen shop a block away from Konoha's campus at 7 on the dot. No one else seemed to have shown up yet so she sat and waited, and waited...and waited. Fiddling with her thumbs, fixing her jacket on her shoulders, straightening the skirt of her dress for the millionth time, but still she sat, 20 minutes later, alone.

With a sigh she realized that maybe everyone had things to do. Everyone had grown up. They were starting their lives soon. What time did they have to get together?

Which, Hinata realized with a sigh, is what she should've been doing. Not grasping for straws hoping that Naruto would pay attention to her after all this time.

Having not eaten, she ordered a bowl of miso, concluding that it was probably best that she put this behind her, forget about Naruto.

"...this place isn't even that good why the hell would Sasuke order from here?"

"Look, beats me. I just said I'd pick it up for him."

Two familiar faces parked at the bar. They noticed her before she noticed them, too busy drowning in her own misery and crab miso.

"Hinata?" Sakura started.

She turned her head and spotted Sakura, alongside Naruto. Old Hinata would have been greatly disheartened by this sight. Naruto with _Sakura_? But they were changed people. Sakura was in a relationship with Sasuke and Naruto was over her. _Right_?

"What are you doing here?"

She was confused. Had she just imagined what Naruto said this morning? "I was here for dinner…" She glanced at Naruto. "I thought we were all—"

"Oh shit." Naruto winced.

Sakura glanced at Naruto tiredly, "What did you do?"

"I totally forgot to tell Hinata where we were eating." He looked at her apologetically, "This one's closest to campus but we went to the one a little farther from here."

"Oh…" She couldn't help but feel embarrassed. They'd already eaten and here she was sitting there like an idiot waiting for them.

Naruto slid onto the stool next to her, "It's okay though. I'm never too full. Sakura, what about you?"

Sakura gave Hinata a knowing glance before replying, "No I think I'm good. I'll wait for Sasuke's food and go if you don't mind."

"Sure," Naruto animatedly turned to Hinata. "Sorry about the mix up. Would you believe it, only me and Sakura showed up for dinner. Everyone was 'too busy,' college and stuff, you know. But who needs em? Your company is more than enough."

"Uh erm...right." She replied, grinning stupidly, so much for forgetting about him.

"Alright Hinata. Tell me everything. Ballet. How's it going?"

Hinata was a little taken off guard by the impromptu trivia round but answered readily enough, feeling her nerves calming, "Good. Better I think."

"And Neji," He prompted with just a touch of distaste. "He's still being the prodigy that he is?"

She let out a small giggle, "Yes. The star of many of our shows."

"'Many?' Last time I heard, you were just doing the one performance a semester thing."

"Yeah, we do performances a lot more now that we're older. It's my week off but we usually have 6 shows a week."

"Really? I'll hand it to you, Hinata, I could never be that dedicated."

"Says the person who practically sleeps with a catchers mitt." Sakura interjected after ordering Sasuke's food.

"You're no better, Sakura." Naruto countered. "You've constantly got your nose stuffed in books about organs."

"It's never too late to get a jumpstart on your college education, Naruto."

Naruto made a face before turning back to her, "It's almost hard to believe we're graduating soon. Everyone's moving on. College is everything anyone wants to talk about now."

"Yeah," Hinata noticed his dejected appearance. "Did you have anywhere you wanted to go in particular? I'm sure anyone would be lucky to have you.

He shook his head, smiling a bit at her compliment, "Not really. But didn't you? Way back when? It was like Oto...Sumi something?"

"Otsutsuki?" She supplied. "Auditions are actually coming up. I'm… surprised you remembered."

"Look Hinata," he chuckled. "I'm not a complete blockhead. Don't you remember that we were friends?"

"You're certainly one to talk," Sakura said to herself but loudly enough to be heard by them.

"Honest, I didn't forget you." Naruto insisted apologetically.

Hinata laughed, "Don't worry, I believe you."

She and Sakura exchange a look before bursting into a fit of giggles.

"Come on you guys, seriously." Naruto slumped down on the counter. "My only friends," He lamented. "Think I'm an idiot."

"No really, Naruto," Hinata amended. "I do believe you."

Naruto smiled at her again and she felt all warm inside. She wasn't exploding. She wasn't on the verge of fainting. She was _fine_; maybe she had made some progress over the years.

Naruto's eyes fell to her barely touched soup.

"Is that any good? I'm starving."

Sakura muttered something about his manners while Hinata easily offered him her bowl. He took a loud slurp, Sakura shaking her head, and Hinata staring fondly at him. No, she supposed. Some people really didn't change.

"Hinata!" Naruto almost shouted. "You _have_ to come to one of my games. I'm way better know, you wouldn't believe it. Tell her Sakura."

The pink haired student nodded, "He really is something. Way better than before. That Jiraiya guy really worked wonders on you."

"Really," Naruto nodded in agreement.

"Oh, I never got to ask how your training went," Hinata said.

"Fucking brutal," Naruto coughed. "But kinda fun? Me and the old man traveled a lot, so I got to see a bunch."

"And you still don't know where you want to go to college?" She cocked her head with a smile.

He rubbed his cheek, "Ah no. All that stuff was great and all but I don't know. They just didn't _feel_ right, you know?" She nodded. "Like you, you've had your life planned out from the very beginning. A straight path with a goal in sights."

"Well actually," She quietly admitted. "I didn't really… I thought that _you_ were the one who had everything planned out. You were always so determined and I guess I admire you for it."

His smile softened, and she turned back to her drink, blushing, "But I guess now, you're right. I owe it to you though, and..."

Naruto sniffed, still smiling at her, prompting her to continue.

"You'll figure college out. I'm sure you will. I know… I...have faith that you'll come out okay. You always do, right?"

"Yeah. I do, I think." He responded. He opened his mouth to say more but a cough shook him. He brought a hand up to his face and Hinata found it covered in hives.

Hinata gasped, reaching towards him, "Are you alright?! Your...your face."

He was busy scratching at the welts when Sakura's attention was caught. She grabbed his chin and turned it towards her. Hinata's worry increased when her green eyes expanded.

"Is he okay?"

"I'm fine, Hinata—" Naruto assured her.

"You are _not_," Sakura countered. "What did you eat?"

"The ramen I always get. I eat that stuff all the time!"

"Think Naruto, did you eat anything else?"

The thought had been haunting Hinata as soon as she had seen Naruto's face. If she wasn't sure then she was positive now.

She piped up, "It might have been my soup. It had crab in it."

Sakura spoke calmly and clearly to Naruto after examining his developing rashes, "Naruto, you're having an allergic reaction."

"But I'm not even allergic to shellfish." His voice was already hoarse.

"Tell that to me when your throat isn't swelling shut." She turned to Hinata, "Could you call an ambulance."

She felt stupid for just standing there, "Yes! Of course." Her worst nightmares were coming true, as she fumbled with her phone, hands shaking, eyes burning. Once on the line, she shakily asked for an ambulance, barely remembering the address.

She knew that it shouldn't take too long. The hospital was a block away from Konoha Prep and was in partnership with the science department, which was why Sakura was so prepared. She, on the other hand, was experiencing a horrible mix of fear— a whole lot of fear— and a massive amount of guilt.

Hinata, just about frozen, watched as Sakura instructed Naruto to lose his hoodie and began to shake out her purse. The pink haired student sifted through the contents and found what she was looking for.

"You are so lucky that I was here," She sighed, sticking an epipen into Naruto's thigh.

"I swear," he smiled through labored breathing. "It wasn't even that bad."

Sakura shook her head, "Allergic reactions are no joke Naruto. You're not out of danger yet. Lie down."

"_Lie down_?"

"On the floor until the ambulance comes." Sakura instructed.

"You're kidding?" Naruto groaned miserably. "I'm not even allergic to shellfish!"

The look Sakura gave him prompted no objections and Naruto did as told. From the floor, he looked up at Hinata, still frozen on the spot, hand clenched tightly around her phone.

"Hey, I'm fine Hinata. It wasn't your fault."

It was then she realized the tears welling in her eyes. _She_ wasn't the one who almost died, she was being such a baby. Quickly she wiped the tears away, to no avail. They ran faster and Hinata hated herself for it.

They had already made enough of a scene because of her. The three high school students included Naruto, going into anaphylactic shock, Sakura, ordering everyone within their proximity to take their food and clear out, and her, a crying mess.

"Hinata," Sakura said gently. "Naruto's going to be alright. I promise. The medicine is gonna prevent him from any real danger and we'll get him checked out at the hospital."

She nodded, feeling like a child being consoled by a parent. Even after insisting that she didn't have to, Hinata sat down on the sticky floor next to Naruto. It didn't make her feel any less embarrassed about the whole thing but she did feel a little less scared. Seeing up close that he was still breathing eased a little of her worrying. A little.

The bright red lights appeared not too long after and Naruto left in a stretcher, accompanied by Sakura and Hinata. He'd made her laugh the whole way though. She couldn't understand how the little jokes he'd cracked from the time they spent on the floor, waiting for Sakura to brief the paramedics, to the ride to the hospital, had made her feel such calm and relief. It almost made her forget she nearly killed him.

Hinata sat with him in the room they checked him into. Sakura went to go deliver Sasuke his, now cold, food, and Naruto told Hinata that she should leave too.

"You know how hospitals are." He said with a roll of his eyes. "They'll keep you here for two hours just to end up giving you a bandaid. Go home, I'll be good."

She shook her head, "I can't leave you here, I'm sorry. Really. I'm really sorry. If only I'd asked where we were meeting and—"

"Hey," he stopped her rambling. "We see each other for the first time and years and all we've done is apologize?"

She nervously laughed.

"I don't know about you," He turned to face her. "But I think we're even. Even though I didn't pay for your dinner, I'd call us pretty even. Don't you think?"

No, not at all, Hinata thought. Getting hit in the head with a baseball and having your throat swell shut were definitely not on the same spectrum.

He saw this thought cross her mind, "We're even, Hinata trust me. How's about we call a truce. No more trying to murder each other okay? We can just be friends again." He held out a hand, "To how it used to be?"

Hinata stared at his smiling face and back down to his hand. Hesitantly, she took it. It was warm, large. Engulfed her entire hand. Somehow, as she made contact, all her raging emotions simmered down to a whisper and she found herself lightly taking his hand, a smile slowly forming on her face, "To...how it used to be."

...


	3. Chapter 3

Part of him was still a little surprised when he walked into Speech and Debate to find Hinata there. The other half was embarrassed because she was literally half a room away for most of the year. In his defense though, the auditorium held about 3 classes worth of rowdy seniors this period.

Sure it had been a lot more calm in the beginning of the year, but as senioritits infected the bulk of the students, teachers generally gave up teaching anything really. Thus, Speech and Debate, Intro to Theater, and Health all merged into one big hodgepodge study hall and all that really ailed them was an essay here or there but Naruto had his suspicions that their teacher had checked out long before the year had even begun, so it really wasn't worth stressing over.

He ditched his usual crowd in favor of sitting on the left side of the auditorium instead. He climbed over the seats and deposited himself beside Hinata, who unsurprisingly jumped at his arrival.

He'd anticipated her reaction but he laughed nonetheless, he pointed to her earbuds, "What are you listening to?"

"Huh? Oh," she pulled them out of her ears. "Nothing."

He shook his head, smiling.

"I uh," she started to reach for his arm, but pulled her hand back almost immediately. "How are you feeling?"

"Hinata, you were with me when they discharged me. I'm fine."

"I know but, I read that symptoms can occur again after a certain period of time—"

"You _read_?" He laughed. "Wow you must really care about me."

"I just want to make sure you're okay," She said quietly, quieter than he's heard her speak in a long while.

He gave her a thumbs up, "I promise I'm doing fine. Sakura forced me to a doctor and I got one of those epipen things cause they said I have 'slight shellfish allergy.' So I'm guessing it wasn't even that serious."

She exhaled deeply, putting a hand on her chest, "That's good."

"Since we're on it," he added. "How are you doing?"

She was just staring at him for a moment before coming to, "What? Oh," her cheeks colored as she brought her hand up to touch her forehead, "It's fine. Doing much better."

"Great. _That's_ over and done with," he sighed dramatically, "Talking about that stuff gets so boring, you know."

"I...suppose, yes."

Too much of their time had been spent apologizing for this and that. He _was_ sorry. Extremely, but friendships weren't particularly fun when they constantly reminisced about slight "missteps" on their accounts.

"Naruto!" A bubbly voice called. A girl was walking up the aisle, a stack of papers in hand. "Here you go!"

Kakashi-sensei's assistant cheerily handed Naruto his graded essay. He smiled in thanks and she practically swooned. Collected herself, she looked at Hinata expectantly.

His friend helpfully supplied, "Hinata Hyuga."

The girl nodded and shifted through the papers, finally locating hers. He watched as Hinata grimaced at a B-.

Naruto whistled, "Wow Hinata, I can barely pull a C in this class."

All she did was sigh and glance at the notes scrawled in red pen in the margins.

"You're upset?" He cocked his head.

She snapped out of her thoughts and turned towards him, plastering a smile on her face, "Oh, no. I mean...I deserved it," she glanced down at it again. "I stayed up all night writing it. I shouldn't have procrastinated so much."

"A B minus is like an A in my book," he chuckled.

Hinata was immediately apologetic, "I didn't mean that a B minus wasn't good or anything, there's nothing wrong with it. I uh, just told myself I'd try and get more As, but I've been a little too preoccupied lately. Just a little disappointed in myself is all." Hinata finished her rambling, blushed, and turned away again, "If that makes sense."

"Yeah I get it," he smiled, leaning back. "You know, I envy you Hinata. You always were a good student."

"Oh... thanks." She twisted a strand of hair around her finger.

"Believe it," he winked at her. "And besides, the way I see it, school and work and stuff are almost over anyway."

"Then we have more school and work," Hinata lightly told him.

"Don't remind me," Naruto sulked. "But _high school_ is almost over, at least. No more stupid uniforms!"

"I suppose you're right," she smiled. Her hunter green blazer was folded neatly over her seat in favor of a lavender jacket.

"That new?" Naruto asked. If he remembered correctly, Hinata used to always cling to the largest parka that he'd ever seen. (Or maybe she was just really small.)

"Not really, a birthday present from Sakura about a few months ago."

"Sakura, huh? It's good to see that you all are still friends. It'd be a shame if the old team broke up."

"Yeah," she agreed. "Speaking of, did you want to go sit with your friends? I don't mind if you just stopped by."

"Pft, what are you talking about? _You're_ my friend. I'd much rather sit over here with you and watch them do stupid stuff then go over there and have _you_ watch _me_ do stupid stuff with them."

She snorted and Naruto gave her a sly grin, "I take that as you watch me over there a lot?"

Her cheeks darkened, "N-No—!"

"I don't blame you," He teased. "Things can get pretty insane over there." He thought of all the wrestling matches that had taken place. "If I'm lucky though, they won't notice that I've turned over to the dark side."

"But," he mused. "That little brat Konohamaru is bound to notice I'm sure. Why he's allowed free reign over the campus is beyond me. Little twerp's a freshman acting like he's a senior already."

"His grandfather is the headmaster, right?"

"The more someone says it, the bigger his head gets," Naruto warned. "The kid is always tailing me, bragging about it and I can't do anything cause I'll get detention if I sock the little punk."

"I think he just looks up to you is all," Hinata said thoughtfully. "You're an idol here, afterall."

He glances at her in disbelief, "No way. He just loves making my life harder than it already is."

"Well...he's always following you around right?"

"Like all the time yeah."

"Maybe he's just looking to be your friend."

"Hinata he's like 10."

"See, if you keep treating him like a child, the way I see it is he'll just keep on bothering you. Maybe you could entertain him. He'll come around, once you don't see him as an enemy."

"I'll think about it. I don't see the brat being anything other than a headache, but if _you_ say so."

"All they need sometimes is a little acknowledgement."

That sounded surprisingly familiar to his own dilemma not too long ago. He wondered if that was her intention, "You sure do know a lot about twerps. You've got a sister though, right?"

"Yeah," she nodded. "Hanabi. She's a lot like Konohamaru. She can be very…" There was a slight change in her expression. "_entitled_."

"See? And let me guess, she's annoying too?"

"Uh...well I guess sometime—"

"Ah ha!" He exclaimed triumphantly, "I got you. Your sister _can_ be a complete pain—"

"—I didn't say that."

"But it's true isn't it?"

Her silence served as confirmation.

"And you're like the nicest person in the world, so no matter what: brats are brats."

"They're becoming teenagers," Hinata said. "They're just going through a difficult time. I'm not so certain you were in the best place freshman year either."

Understatement of the year. He had been a beacon for trouble, scolding, and the more than occasional probation.

"Ouch, Hinata," He winced.

"It's not like any of us were having an easy time, though," she amended quickly. "It was our first year on our own and stuff, yeah. I mean I could never get myself out of that giant coat."

"You did wear that thing all the time didn't you?" He shook his head, "No way, I was still worse off."

"I think you—"

The tone sounded, releasing them for lunch. As per usual, a herd of some 80 students evacuated the auditorium. Hinata stood, gathering her things.

Naruto, a tad disappointed that he didn't get to hear what she was going to say, slung his own bag over his shoulder, inquiring, "Special lunch plans?"

Hinata smiled sheepishly, "No. I was just going to go back to my room for the hour…"

"Oh really? If you're not doing anything you can come watch me practice. We've got the field during lunch," He rubbed the nape of his neck, "If you want, that is."

"Uh...sure." Then more certain, "Yeah. That'd be fun."

"Cool," he flashed a grin and led them out of the auditorium.

He'd left her waiting outside the locker room, promising he'd be quick to change. Shy little Hinata surely would've gotten flustered and left but there she stood, backpack resting against her knees as she leaned on the wall.

"There's no better feeling than getting out of those stuffy clothes." Naruto sighed in bliss.

Hinata smiled and joined him at his side, "They're not that bad."

"Not that bad?" He echoed. It was easy for her to say. She didn't look like a tightwad. Actually, Naruto mused, giving her a side glance, the uniform suited her quite well.

He was being rude, he realized all of a sudden. A pervert, more like it. (Jiraiya hadn't been too good of a mentor in _that_ aspect.) He looked up at the sky instead, arms crossed behind his head, face warm.

They approached the field and Naruto could already see the underclassmen girls gathering. He groaned under his breath. It looked like there was going to be a lot today. That wasn't to say he didn't appreciate their attention. He did. Kind of. It was just that it was really hard to focus on anything when a bunch of 15 year old girls were screaming his name.

"A word of advice," Naruto whispered in mock seriousness to his companion, "These girls can be...intense. Don't get too close, they can smell fear."

Hinata didn't seem to know whether he was being serious or not but he gave her some slight assurance when he laughed. He waved in departure, "Wish me luck."

He'd turned away a little too quickly, but he did happen to catch the quiet "good luck" Hinata gave him.

He was greeted by a chorus of cheers from the girls hanging on the fencing as he entered the field. He glanced over and saw Hinata sitting behind them on the bleachers, as far away as possible. She was wincing at the girls' screaming from the looks of it. Their eyes met and they exchanged a look. She laughed and gave him a small wave and he was about to wave back but oh yeah he wasn't he supposed to be doing something?

Snapping to attention, he just barely saw Choji's ball flying towards his face. Naruto quickly caught it, letting out a breath of relief.

"Nice one, Choji." He called.

The catcher wanted to touch up on his batting and asked their best power hitter to give him some pointers. It really wouldn't be any good if Naruto got himself knocked out in the process.

He met Choji halfway, returning his ball. "Your form's really good. I'm not sure what you were so worried about."

"Hey, thanks—"

"_Way to go Naruto!_" The crowd cheered.

Naruto grinned sheepishly at Choji, "I'm sure they meant you."

Choji rolled his eyes good naturedly, "Yeah sure Naruto. I'm honestly relieved. A fan club seems like such a hassle."

They gazed over at the swarming mass.

"Say, is that Hinata?"

"Oh yeah, she said she'd come watch me."

"Oh really," Choji said, giving him a look.

"Uh...yeah?"

Choji shook his head, laughing.

"What?"

Shikamaru walked up to the two, "What'd Naruto do this time?"

"Do I always have to do something?—"

"Oh nothing," Choji grinned. "Naruto just brought _Hinata_ today."

"Hinata, huh?" The same look came over his face.

Naruto looked between the two, "Am I missing something?"

"No point in explaining it," Shikamaru dismissed peremptorily, waving him off.

Naruto ran a few more drills with Choji, the catcher and manager still making fun of him for something he _still_ didn't get, and they didn't plan on telling him either.

There was a lull in the game and Naruto tossed his mitt in the dugout and veered towards the gate. He hopped over, eliciting a stream of giggling from their viewers. The Uzumaki graced them with a smile and a wave or two before climbing the bleachers and sliding next to Hinata. She moved over a bit to make room.

"You were really good out there," she told him.

Naruto beamed, "I hoped you'd think so." His eyes fell down to the box of onigiri in her lap and he knew his mouth was watering.

"Where'd you get that from?"

"Oh, I made it."

"That looks like… professional. Woah Hinata, I never have any time to put that much effort into my lunch."

"Well what did you have for lunch?"

He laughed, "That's just the thing. Nothing."

"What!?" She held out her box in offering. "Here have some. You need the energy more than me."

"I don't want to take away from your lunch. Trust me, I manage."

Her expression didn't change as she insistently presented her lunch.

Naruto sighed, (gratefully, boy did they look good), "Alright, you've twisted my leg."

"Wait," She eyed him, retracting her arms. "You're not allergic to anything else are you?"

Naruto almost choked on laughter, "Well I won't know until I try." He took some of the onigiri. Biting into it, his eyes widened.

"Hinata," He spluttered. "This is _amazing_. When'd you learn to cook so good?"

"It really isn't anything much," she insisted.

"'Not anything much,'" he scoffed. "quit humbling yourself. This is delicious."

"Well—"

"Naruto!" Kiba came running up to the fence. "Would you stop flirting and get— oh, Hinata. It's you." He rephrased, "Naruto stop bothering Hinata and get back over here."

"I'm not bothering her," He rolled his eyes.

Hinata nodded in agreement, "Y-Yeah, Kiba. It's okay. He invited me to come and watch."

Kiba's eyes narrowed momentarily before he shrugged and turned on his heel, "Don't take too long, Naruto."

"Yeah, yeah." He turned to Hinata, "I'd better get back before one of these girls pounces on me." Ever so slowly, the group had been inching their way towards them, not going unnoticed by the two. He stood, smiling down at her, "You can stick around longer if you want. We have like 20 minutes left. What do you have after this?"

She seemed confused by the question, "Uh...I've got ballet."

"Yeah that's not too far," he nodded. "I'll walk you if you'll wait."

He didn't wait for her reply, hopping off the bleachers and returning to the field. It was the least he could do after lunch. Hinata ended up waiting on him at the bell and he walked her over to the Performing Arts Building. It was out of his way but he hadn't realized how much he enjoyed Hinata's company (and her cooking; she'd saved him some onigiri). She had thanked him for escorting her and he said it was no problem, and after that day, a routine was formed.

...

Being Naruto's friend was hard.

Not at all meaning that Hinata didn't enjoy every minute they spent together, she was happier than she'd ever been in fact. That was actually the problem. She felt her love of their relationship was so disproportionate to his own that she really felt silly for it.

That was only one of a few problems with their rekindled friendship.

Problem number two arose when they were walking in the hall together as usual. They had been jumped once again by the Naruto Posse, and Hinata, as usual, found herself being pushed away from Naruto as people crowded the blonde for attention.

She was walking on the outskirts of the group that spanned the width of the hallway when she felt a hand hook onto her arm. Somehow she was maneuvered through the layers and back at his side. Naruto himself was still listening to everyone at once, giving them all attention, but he flashed a smile at her and unhooked his hand from her arm.

She felt warm.

Problem number three occurred when she was sitting in the bleachers at lunch. She was unwrapping her own lunch, setting aside the one she'd made for Naruto (what? Skipping meals wasn't healthy. She was just being a good friend).

The usual crowd had begun to stare holes into her about two weeks into her and Naruto's acquaintance. Before then it had been subtle glances and she told herself that she was just being paranoid. Now though, their stares were obvious and Hinata nervously tried to eat her lunch and ignore them. (If she was being honest, she thought Naruto was telling the truth when he warned her that they could smell fear.)

Contemplating whether she was crazy or not left her in her thoughts and suddenly she looked over and the group had congregated to her area at the top of the bleachers. Arms crossed they stood before her and Hinata had to remind herself that they weren't much older than her little sister. (Hanabi still scared her sometimes though.) She forced a smile, wondering if they were just going to stand there until Naruto showed up.

Proving her wrong, the leader of the pack spoke up, "Why're you always hogging Naruto?"

She almost choked, "Excuse me?"

"You heard me. Naruto doesn't pay any attention to us anymore because he's always with you."

First off, Hinata knew that was false. Naruto (somewhat) understood the delicacy of a young girl's feelings and made sure to greet them every day.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what you're talking about. I just come out here to watch just like the rest of you."

The girl was unconvinced, "Yeah right. The rest of us don't get to have Naruto walk us to all our classes or eat lunch with him." An appalled look crossed her face, "Are you his girlfriend or something?"

Any response Hinata had shriveled up as her entire face turned scarlet.

Triumphant looks spread across the group and she could feel her mortification growing. Luckily a knight in shining armor came to her rescue.

"Hey you guys," Naruto began, slowly approaching the situation. "What's going on?"

Their leader was immediately on the defense, whining, "Nothing, really. It's just that we think you've been treating us a little unfairly lately."

"Unfairly?"

"Yeah," another joined, "All you do is spend your time with _her_!" She pointed an accusatory finger at Hinata, still thoroughly embarrassed. "We're not in the same grade as you so we can't have classes and see you throughout the day!"

Hinata was a little surprised to see a look of almost annoyance pass over him. Naruto was such an imperturbable spirit that this was a little unsettling.

"Look," he began seriously. "Hinata is my friend. I've known her for a long time so yeah I'm gonna spend time with her. Same way I spend time with Shikamaru or Kiba or Sasuke. You guys don't seem to have a problem with them. Why is it that I can't hang out with her?"

"Well…" She trailed off.

"In the meantime," Naruto's iconic smile finally made its appearance. "If you guys want to have lunch with me, you're more than welcome to eat with us, though I'm sure your lunch won't be nearly as good as Hinata's."

Grumbling, the group departed and Naruto shook his head, taking his seat beside her.

"Sorry. They mean well most of the time," He smiled apologetically.

"I know they do. It's alright." She returned his grin, handing him the lunch she prepared.

He opened his lunch, commenting happily that she'd made his favorite.

She however was still stuck on that warm feeling she got when Naruto stood up for her.

Problem number four became known to her one Sunday afternoon. She was walking with Kiba and Akamaru around campus. Warmer temperatures were coming in and she enjoyed the fresh air. She had just had a particularly long week with performances piling on top of assignments, so she'd been holed up inside for way too long.

"Yeah Shino's supposed to be back from his trip to that reserve soon," Kiba was saying. "We were thinking of getting together if you can spare some time."

"Sure I can," she smiled, watching Akamaru run up ahead. "Admittedly I was a little intense with my regimen. I've...toned it down a bit."

And she had. She'd seen visible improvement after taking more time to relax and less time making herself sick with stress. Her father had one less thing to say to her during her weekly visit and that was always a plus.

Kiba gave her a surprised look, "Hinata Hyuga? Chilling out? Who are you and what've you done with the real Hinata?"

She shrugged, "I've just been more confident these days I guess."

She owed that much to Naruto. He complimented her way more than she deserved, but in retrospect she supposed she did the same to him. With him back in her life after so long, a faded piece of her returned, reviving her stagnant self confidence.

"This wouldn't have anything to do with Naruto would it?"

She started, "What makes you say that?"

"I dunno. You two have been hanging out a lot lately."

"I mean," Hinata played with the ends of her hair, "We were friends before he left. We're just… catching up is all."

"Uh huh…" Kiba threw her a glance before smiling. "To think, I've known you for eight years and I have not once been able to get you to chill. Naruto comes in and then a month later, you're suddenly Miss Relaxed."

"Kiba it's not that! Don't think that I don't appreciate you, I do. A lot. It's just—"

"I'm just messing with you Hinata." He assured her. "Naruto's a good friend. I'm honestly glad he helped."

She sighed in relief. Kiba had been there for her through it all. He made sure she was fed most of the time. There were no words to describe how precious he was to her. Kiba and Shino both had tried to convince her that she _was_ good enough as the years progressed. They'd tried to make her see the logic in it but as long as her father kept insisting that no, she'd never be good enough, and the more she saw fault in herself, the more detrimental it was to her self image. But Naruto inadvertently had a different approach: There was no logic.

Ever since they were young, he'd had a way of saying things that made people— her at least— believe him. There needn't be reason behind it because when Naruto said something, it was pretty much an established point.

"_I'm going to be the best player this school's ever seen."_ Done.

"_I'm going to be the most popular guy in school! Just you wait!"_ Mission accomplished.

So when Naruto said to her "you're honestly one of the most talented people I know," without having even seen her dance, she was sure, something told her that it was an absolute fact. Something told her that she _could_ be great. Just as great as Naruto even. He inspired her in ways no one else had.

He had been public enemy number one. Such a troublemaker had no business being in such a prestigious school. But once he made good on his promise of becoming better— the _best_, he was no longer the object of scorn, rather a hero of some sort. (Everyone loves an underdog.)

Naruto held no obligation towards any of his tormentors. He had all the right in the world to turn his nose up at them but he didn't. Bygones were bygones with him, and all he saw was a friend. His enemies had made him stronger after all, pushed him harder. He was so kind towards everyone without even needing to be. She adored him in every aspect.

Which was why she loved him.

But _no. _

No_. _She couldn't be that selfish. Naruto wanted a friend, and she'd do everything in her power to be that for him.

...

Naruto and Hinata were both busy people with their own goals to reach and even though his fans believed that they spent every second of the day together, the most time ranged at around 2 hours, the least being a wave as they passed each other in the halls.

After a month and a half, Hinata worked up the courage to ask Naruto a question that had been lingering in the back of her mind for a while now. She was standing outside the boys locker room, staring down at the ticket and program she held in her hand. Her name, printed in cursive letters, sat just below the performance title. Hinata's hands trembled ever so slightly. She calmed herself. It was just a simple question. No big deal.

Except, she reasoned gravely. It was a big deal. A very big deal. The metallic red font glistened, agitating the butterflies in her stomach. Hinata took a deep breath and stuffed both program and ticket into the envelope she brought along.

Naruto came out not too long after, ready to go. When Hinata stood unmoving, clenching the envelope in her hand, he asked what was wrong.

"I…" She began softly. No, she was better than that. Braver than that. She tried again, "I was wondering if you wanted to come to one of my shows. It's this weekend and I know it's short notice but if you wanted, I got you a ticket." She held the aforementioned object out.

"Oh cool." Was his response. It was funny really. Her heart was practically beating out of her chest and he'd responded so easily.

"It's no big deal if you don't want to come," She really didn't want to seem overbearing. "I've got other shows but I figured I'd give you one of my complimentary tickets."

"Wow, thanks, Hinata. That's really cool of you." He put the envelope into his bag, and picked up her own.

"Oh, no Naruto you don't have to—"

"I don't mind," he assured, sliding her backpack onto his shoulder. "It's about time I start carrying my weight anyway, you know?"

Hinata didn't see any use in dissuading him, tucking her hair behind her ears, a futile attempt in distracting from her blushing.

Yeah, she thought, watching Naruto walk in front of her. She loved being Naruto's friend.

(Who didn't like a challenge?)

...


	4. Chapter 4

…

"...Oh, Hinata!"

She had been patiently waiting for Naruto to finish speaking with a few friends and blinked herself back to reality when he called her. He motioned towards the green haired girl in front of her.

"This is Fu."

Hinata bowed, "It's nice to meet you—"

"This is her? This is Hinata? Wow she looks like a great friend!" Fu seemed to speak a mile a minute and was even more exuberant than Naruto had ever been. Also, she noted, with a slight blush, that Naruto spoke about her to others.

"Oh, um, thank you. How long have you and Naruto—"

Hinata was interrupted yet again by the smaller girl enveloping her in a hug. Her size betrayed her strength and Hinata could hardly breathe before she was set down.

Fu took both her hands and gazed at her adoringly, "Can we be friends, Hinata? Can we? Please?"

"Y-Yeah." She was quite flustered by the whole situation and looked over at Naruto for some assistance. But just as she did, her new friend pounced on Naruto, who seemed completely unbothered by her energy.

"So you're coming tomorrow right, Naruto?"

He shook his head goodnaturedly, "If I say yes, will you quit bugging me about it?"

"You don't even have to say yes. You're coming, no questions asked."

"'Coming?'" Hinata thought aloud.

Fu turned to her, "Yeah, I'm having this party tomorrow night and everyone's invited. I'm practically a party scientist so any party before now won't even come close to being as great as mine will be. You should come too, Hinata!"

Tomorrow night? But that was… Looking Naruto's way, the same thought didn't even seem to cross his mind.

"I'm sorry, I can't. I have a show tomorrow."

Fu's face scrunched up, "Like a band or something?"

"No, ballet. I dance."

"If you ask me, that sounds way boring! You should ditch and come to my party instead."

"Thank you for the offer," she inclined her head. "But I'll have to make it some other time."

The younger girl smiled cheerily, "Okay! Suit yourself!"

Hinata could tell that Fu wasn't trying to be insulting or was aware that she was being so. Hinata was primarily focused on Naruto, who just then remembered the previous engagement.

"Oh right, your show!" He slapped his forehead. Hinata was a bit relieved at this.

Fu wilted, "Aw not you too Naruto. You have to come! This could be your last high school party! You absolutely cannot miss it!"

The others murmured their agreements and Naruto's eyes finally met Hinata's and she was put at ease (mesmerized) by his smile.

"Do you mind, Hinata?" He asked.

She blinked herself out of the trance he had put her under. Her brain seemed to stop all cognition and she was left staring, trying to make sense of what he said.

"Uh…" She began. It wasn't like she could say no. Everyone was staring at her, practically daring her to take Naruto away from them. She didn't want to seem selfish. She understood that he had a life, a life that was so much bigger than herself, but this particular thing was so important to her and he couldn't see that, could he?

She plastered her smile over her face, "Of course. Go ahead."

He grinned in thanks and their group continued towards class.

Hinata was more than used to hiding her pain. Being compliant. All there was to it was slapping a smile on and crying herself to sleep later, but this was different. Heartbreak had always been just a term to her that she categorized as an intense sadness over someone you loved, and she figured that that was what she felt when Naruto left years ago, but she found out, traversing the halls, that it was a very real, very physical thing. She could feel her heart cracking and breaking into little pieces and it was unbearable. Not even she could shrug it off.

Without catching anyone's attention, she ducked away from the group, heading the opposite direction.

She escaped through the double doors and made her way towards the studios. It was a wonder Hinata was able to navigate the building without completely crumbling. Her strength finally hit its nadir when she entered the dressing rooms. Rarely anyone was there this time of day and she was glad no one was now. Locking the room entirely, she slid down against the wall, not crying at first, reflecting. It had all happened so suddenly. Things were good and then they weren't so quickly that her head was spinning.

Naruto… He'd forgotten, for one thing. That hurt. And second…(the nail in the coffin) he'd wanted to go to a party instead.

She didn't really matter to him.

She was just another one of his fangirls.

He was just being nice.

All of it came rushing out and Hinata wasn't even aware when she'd started crying. She felt ridiculous crying over a boy who owed her nothing, yet she sat there for fifteen minutes. (She thanked god that no one had tried to come in.)

Very distractedly, she changed out of her uniform, trying to find some reason to the whole situation. Fu was younger than them, maybe he was taking her advice and just being nice. She didn't seem to have the air of someone you could say no to anyway. Yeah, that was it? Right? (She had more common sense than that; Naruto would have said no if he really had any intention of attending her showcase.)

Hinata stiffly walked to the studio, focusing on fiddling with her fingers, a useless distraction. Fumbling with connecting the aux cord to her phone, she could still feel her eyes burning. She was angry. Not at him. At herself. She fooled herself into thinking that she meant something. There were so many people in Naruto's life. Why did she think that she'd be any more special than the rest?

Sniffing, she took to fourth position and tried desperately to concentrate and stop crying less she break her ankle in misstep.

Eventually she'd calmed down. Well, enough to focus on her steps and the music. Nothing else. After a while she took a breather to break in her new pointe shoes (a gift from Neji) a feat usually accomplished during personal time so that no others would be disturbed.

She figured since it was almost lunch, no one should have been bothered, that is until she heard the door open and she immediately stopped. An apology was already on her tongue, ready to promise to be quieter and mindful of other students that might be in the building, until she saw that it was _him_ gingerly standing at the door.

Hinata's heart began to beat rapidly. He was the absolute last person on earth that she wanted to see (why was part of her glad that he was here, though?). She sat awkwardly, having previously been beating her shoes against the floor, and not completely sure that the puffiness of her face had gone down.

"Hey, you kinda disappeared back there." He chuckled.

Hinata stared at the ground, almost in shock. He didn't know. (Of course that was the point, but it still hurt.) Feeling her emotions bubble back up, she mumbled an "oh," and continued pounding her shoes into the ground.

"Well Fu and the others are going to come to lunch with us. Are you were ready?"

She tensed ever so slightly before bending the pointes at the arch. It was a while before she said anything.

"I think," she managed without crying. "That I'll stay here for lunch. I...I want to be alone today...if you don't mind."

At this Naruto was finally confused. He didn't question her though. He himself replied with an "oh." and just stood there watching her.

Hinata wondered just how long she could hold up before she heard him retreating towards the door.

"Okay then, Hinata." He added, "See you later."

It sounded like a question. Her initial thought was to just let him leave, but she knew herself better than that.

Her reply was a less than enthusiastic, "Okay."

…

She'd been prepared for this day for months. She'd known every step forwards and backwards. She could've done it in her sleep.

Now though, Hinata sat gazing hazily at her reflection in the mirror. Blindly touching up her makeup. She hadn't gotten much sleep.

She'd practically made herself sick agonizing over the fact that she meant nothing to him. But it wasn't that thought that kept her up, leaving her with minimal rest. It was the terrible fact that she still loved him, even after he had broken her heart. In fact, it was as strong as it'd ever been. She hated herself for it. This was hurting her. Why couldn't she let go?

Hinata couldn't understand how no matter what, she couldn't bring herself to blame Naruto for any of what happened. How could she? It wasn't his fault that she stayed up all night. It wasn't his fault that she was in love with him. It wasn't his fault that she put all of her faith and admiration into him only to have her hopes dashed across the linoleum floors. The bleak reality of it was that she loved him too much to blame him for anything. It was her fault. She had done this to herself.

Hinata wasn't the type to wear a lot of makeup if any. The way she'd been done up for this performance gave her face an air of drama and beauty that wasn't really herself or the way she was feeling for that matter.

Her eyes were dull, lacking the brightness that had been residing there for months, and no smokey eye could change that.

It was as she was sitting there, gazing at herself in the mirror that reason struck her, grim as it was. Naruto wasn't required to be there for her. She had told him that he could be somewhere else. He'd asked her. It wasn't his fault. But then maybe, she knew somewhere inside of her that Naruto didn't care for her in the way she did.

That was just like her actually. She couldn't handle him breaking his heart so she broke it on her own.

She sighed. She had to focus on those who were there for her. Who'd always be there.

She had Neji, who'd given her a good luck not too long ago, and Kiba, who called early that morning to make sure she ate breakfast and to assure that he and Shino would be there, and she even finally had her father who said he'd try and make it.

At this thought, Hinata smiled a bit. She had people who loved her and that… that was enough. It was more than a younger version of herself could ask for and she could be contented with that. Naruto might have sparked her change, but it was those people who were there to support her, to help her grow. She allowed herself to be contented with that.

She told herself that she was going to ignore those thoughts in the back of her head. The ones that reminded her that Naruto wasn't there. That the person she looked up to, the person she accredited this moment to, she had pushed away.

She felt a familiar sting in her eyes before stubbornly blinking them away. If Naruto had taught her anything it was that she didn't need other's validation to be the best that she could be. Not even his.

A little flame flickered in the hole in her chest. Small and fickle as it was, she held onto it and ran.

...

"Hey Sakura!" Naruto greeted his friend.

She was sitting at her laptop, switching between scribbling in a notebook, and typing away. She glanced up for a moment before resuming her work, "I'm busy, Naruto."

"Too busy to chat with an old friend?"

She rolled her eyes but didn't object to him sitting next to her.

"Where's Hinata?" She asked after a moment, not looking away from her screen.

"Hm?" He shrugged, "I dunno. She's been busy lately I guess."

This time Sakura did look up. Her sharp green gaze was trained on him in suspicion.

"What?"

"What did you do?"

He threw up his arms in confusion, "I didn't do anything! Hinata's just busy!"

"Busy huh?" Sakura muttered with incredulity. She opened another window and went to the KPA website.

"What're you doing?"

"Checking the schedules for the performance season."

"'Performance season?'" He echoed. "Are you stalking her or something?"

"No, I refuse to believe that Hinata is just busy. You two have been inseparable."

"Well it makes sense to me. Why wouldn't she be?"

"Because, Naruto," Sakura said matter of factly, "A girl isn't just busy, randomly out of the blue."

"I can tell you for a fact that she is. I think she's supposed to be doing something or another for college I think. I don't know."

"Oh! Otsutsuki. I completely forgot about that. Auditions are coming up. I guess," she admitted with a sigh, "You actually didn't do anything."

She went back to scrolling.

"She must be," He said offhandedly. "She hasn't been answering my texts."

"Maybe you should stop bothering her."

"Yeah but, I haven't seen her or talked to her in weeks!"

Sakura gave him a sly glance. The same one, he remembered, that Shikamaru and Choji often have him. This time though, it left his eyes skirting in the other direction, hand ruffling the back of his hair.

Sakura didn't say anything, just grinned.

"Maybe…" Naruto thought aloud. "Fu scared her off somehow."

"The junior? What does she have to do with Hinata?"

"I introduced them and she started talking about her party and I don't know, next thing I knew Hinata was gone. She's been saying that she's busy ever since."

Sakura looked thoughtful as he continued, "Do you think she thinks I'm spending all my time with her now? Do you think she's jealous? She shouldn't be, Fu is just a friend!"

"Oh and what is Hinata then?"

"My friend!" he replied readily enough. Still though, he felt unnaturally flustered.

"Whatever," Sakura rolled her eyes. "Hinata isn't the jealous type anyway. She must be preparing for her audition."

She continued her aimless perusing about the website while Naruto absentmindedly glanced at his phone (for the second time since he'd sat down).

"Oh," he heard her mumble to herself. Naruto looked over at her screen and saw a PDF file pulled up.

"What's that?"

"It's Hinata's show. I wish she would've told me, I would've wanted to go."

"Oh yeah. I think she gave me a ticket to that."

"No need to brag, Naruto." Sakura huffed. "How was she? I bet she was beautiful."

"I mean, I wouldn't know. I was at Fu's party. Hinata said it was no big deal though."

Sakura's eyes widened and Naruto was very well versed in Angry Sakura Face.

"What?"

She closed her eyes, clenching her pen and ticking her nails against the tabletop. She was cooling down, but what had he done to piss her off? His main priority was to be ready if Sakura decided to knock him out (it didn't look like it but man she packed a punch), so it was a little disorienting when she spoke, quieter, and with only a few hints of aggression, "I'm not going to spell it out for you Naruto. I shouldn't have to."

"What are you even talking about? What'd I do?"

"So dense," She sighed. "Get lost Naruto. Some of us have work to do."

"But I—"

"I won't hesitate to knock your lights out if you don't go away, jerk."

"Okay okay, geez." He relented. He snatched up his bag and left, thoroughly confused.

...

Once again, for about the fourth time in two weeks, Naruto found himself outside the Performing Arts Building, contemplating his entry.

Maybe Hinata was busy and he'd be bothering her. But maybe she wasn't and Fu really had upset her.

He owed it to her to apologize on Fu's behalf.

Naruto walked inside, glancing over at a sign in sheet to see Hinata's name signed in for the hour. He followed the room numbers and heard music blaring inside. Looking inside, he saw that she was in fact busy. He really shouldn't have doubted her. Rolling his eyes at Sakura, he moved to turn away, but stood where he was for just a moment.

He was in no way any sort of expert in the arts nor did he know much about them. But one fact became clear to him: Hinata was the best at it.

No he couldn't say what exactly made it such a moving experience for him, or why his chest felt tight when he watched her glide across the floor, but he knew Hinata was amazing. Even more so than he knew her to have already been.

He finally went to turn away this time, but a series of sharp vibrations came from his bag. He dug through it in search of his phone, navigating through an obscene amount of loose papers. Finally reaching the bottom, his screen revealed that it was only Sasuke. Naruto retrieved his phone and found an envelope lying underneath, his name printed in Hinata's handwriting.

He scratched his head, trying to remember when she had given it to him. Naruto tore open the envelope and took out its contents. Firstly, there was a single red rimmed ticket, settled in front of a program, the same one he glanced at earlier.

This time he read over it, eyes stopping at 'feat. Hinata Hyuga.' Featuring? As in star of the show? Why didn't Hinata tell him? He shifted it to the back of the pile, looking over the last item.

It was a handwritten note, from her, reading:

Naruto—

I wanted to thank you for all you've done for me. You have been such a special part of my life and it means the world that you begin to think of me, even a little. Unfortunately I'm not as brave as you and I'm way too afraid to ever say this to your face, but I want to admit that from the first time I met you, I've wanted to be just like you. Just as driven and just as confident in accomplishing dreams as you always were without fail. Now, you're living proof that those dreams can come true and that I'm not silly for dreaming big. Because of you, I feel that things that I've always seen as impossible are really within reach. I'm auditioning for my dream school in a few weeks and I owe all this and more to you.

Not only that, I have really loved spending time with you and I find myself hoping that it'll never end, that I can be with you all the time. That's selfish I'm sure and admittedly a bit weird, I'm sorry, but I needed to get all that off my chest (you know?)

I just want to thank you for everything. Your support means more than you know. Wish me luck!

-Hinata

He stood momentarily stunned. Sakura was right, as always.

The music from inside the room stopped and Naruto, briefly panicking, fled the scene.

Here he was boasting and making a big deal about how much he valued his friends, how much he valued her, yet he wasn't there to support her when she needed him.

He wasn't sure what time it was, or how long he had until the period ended but he found himself aimlessly walking around campus, hating himself. Hinata was angry with him. He'd ignored her. How could he be so careless?

He was out of it the entire day, his mind whirring with regret and shame. Sleep didn't come easy for him that night.

_"I just...want to make sure you're okay."_

_"I believe in you."_

_"Good luck."_

Her smiling up at him. Offering him a lunch. Making him laugh. Her kindness. Her consideration. Her loyalty.

"_I find myself hoping that it'll never end, that I can be with you all the time_."

Her supporting him when he was down. She was the only who could do it so easily. Just a few words and he felt like the world could be his.

"_I think… that your parents would be proud of who you are today. You've grown into an amazing person with a bright future. I know they'd love to see who you've become."_

He woke up in a cold sweat, heart beating its way out of his chest. He clenched his shirt. His face was warm. What was wrong with him? Why was he so panicked?

_"You have been such a special part of my life and it means the world that you begin to think of me, even a little."_

He felt anxious for days, not knowing what to do with himself. Should he go see her and apologize? No, what if she didn't want to see him? It hadn't seemed like she did. He was back at square one, except he couldn't pin this on anymore else but himself this time. But it didn't help that the thought of even approaching her made him suddenly lose his breath.

He worked up the nerve to go back. Naruto stood outside the door, hovering for what seemed like hours.

"Can I help you?" A voice caused him to jump.

Naruto turned and was met by sharp red eyes.

"Are you here to see, Hinata?" The teacher asked.

"Well, kind of. I guess. I don't know really."

She nodded slowly, looking him over a bit suspiciously, "Hinata is hard at work and I'm sure disruptions won't help her in any way."

"I...yes, yeah, you're right." He looked longingly over at the door.

"Did you have a message you wanted me to give her for you?"

"No sorry, I was just watching her for a while." He sheepishly grinned.

She hummed, "Hinata's one of our best. She had her debut just the other night."

"I know," he murmured, gazing through the little window. "I wasn't able to make it."

They stood for a moment watching Hinata's turns when she finally spoke up, "Come with me."

Naruto did as he was told and followed the woman to an office. He stood awkwardly in the doorway, not sure if he was in trouble or not.

Seemingly reading his mind, the woman beckoned him closer as she started her laptop up. After a moment she turned the screen towards him.

A video began to play. A stage was shown and in the very center was Hinata, but different. She looked absolutely stunning; it took his breath away. Naruto turned towards the teacher, "Is this her?"

"You're Naruto right?" He nodded in surprise. "Yes, Neji told me about you. I figured you were Hinata's special guest. You should've seen her, she really wanted you to have made it. But, Hinata is strong. She did phenomenally."

"Yeah," He murmured, enraptured by the recording. "She's amazing."

The woman grinned, making her way to the door, "I can only hope I made the right decision in not consulting with Hinata first. I trust that you have Hinata's best interest at heart and aren't some stalker."

"What?" He stammered. "No I swear I'm (was) her friend!"

"I was just teasing. It's alright, I know who you are," She waved him off, "I understand how much Hinata cares about you." Her red eyes turned icy, "Try and make it to the next one alright?"

She was gone before he could reply and he knew the comment was more of a jab at him for his absence and the effect it must've had on Hinata. He'd noticed something off putting about Kurenai and he believed he figured it out, standing there alone in her office, watching footage of Hinata's show.

He'd really hurt Hinata.

He then remembered that day, the one where he had chosen a party over her. She'd smiled and told him that he could go. Naruto had her smiles engraved in his memory and there was something different about that one. He'd felt it then and he felt more prominently now. Looking back, he could see the hurt in her eyes.

He truly was the biggest jerk in the world.

…

**(yeah super uncool of me to not update for a month. apologies! next update should be better)**


	5. Chapter 5

Hinata believed she was doing better. She had some time to think about things.

In her hysteria, she had come to the botched conclusion that it wasn't that big of a deal. That Naruto missing that night was fine. _She had told him that he didn't have to go._

Rationale had taken her firmly by the shoulders and told her that it wasn't as alright as she'd talked herself into believing. Even so, that was his decision and that was okay. Feelings were different and she had to be okay with that too.

She'd come to a point of acceptance after it was all over. After she'd finished watching her performance from some back seat view in her consciousness. In what seemed like a blink of an eye, she suddenly found herself walking backstage. It was over? It could'ntve been; she hadn't felt nervous or scared or anything but this exhilarating sensation that pushed her to go out and perform to her fullest. Quickly replaying the dance in her mind, she'd come to a startling conclusion.

But before she could analyze it any further, she had been ambushed by the company, her peers and instructors showering her in so much praise that Hinata was overwhelmed by it all. Kiba and Neji and Shino had come and gave her flowers and her father even visited her in her dressing room to issue a few words of congratulations.

They'd all gone out to celebrate after that, Hinata still stunned. Her cousin noticed her absence and questioned her.

She blinked at him, assuring that she was fine, Hinata even surprised herself by saying. She was _fine_. She was better than fine, was what she'd realized walking off stage.

How on earth was that possible when she felt the world crumbling around her not 4 hours ago? She spent a while mulling over the fact.

Three weeks later she found herself at her father's for the weekend. He'd invited she and Neji to assist a class at the institution and it was practically the highest honor Hinata had ever received from him.

They were eating dinner— well, she, Neji, and Hanabi were eating dinner, her father unsurprisingly had previous engagements, and for the first time ever, Hinata truly felt she had a place at that table rather than feeling like lowly scum in comparison to the rest of her family.

Hanabi had been regaling a tale of something or other when she stopped abruptly and scrutinized Hinata with a hard stare.

"What is it?" Hinata asked, hackles immediately raised.

"Geesh, Hina," Hanabi snickered. "I'm not gonna bite."

Hinata attempted to brush it off, "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"You know, big sister," And then that cheeky look graced her sister's features. "A girl like you shouldn't be without a boyfriend."

She started, trying to not sound too frazzled, "Is that so?"

"So Neji," Hanabi transitioned in a sing-song voice. "Anyone out there who has swept Hinata off her feet?"

Hinata started to cough, halting the conversation, "Why do you ask?"

Hanabi rolled her eyes as if the answer was obvious, "Well I dunno, I think that if you go through all the trouble of getting yourself away from Father and his prying eyes then I'd at least be taking advantage of it, with your looks especially."

"My looks?" (So much for feeling comfortable at the table.)

"Please please please Neji," Hanabi begged their cousin. "Please tell me my sister is at least living her life! I'd give anything to be as free as you two sometimes!"

"Well," Neji shot Hinata a sly glance and she knew she'd lost her potential ally. "Naruto Uzumaki does always seem to be in her acquaintance."

Hanabi lit up, "Naruto? Is he cute? Oh Hina," Her little sister was gushing. "I'm so proud of you! A real live boyfriend in the Hyuga house!"

"Naruto's not my boyfriend!" She interjected quickly. The words "Naruto" and "boyfriend" in the same sentence made her head spin.

"Well then he probably likes you," Hanabi easily dismissed. "Of course he does, why wouldn't he? I want to meet him! Are you going to bring him here? No, Father would probably scare him off. We'll plan something then. We can all get together and I—"

"Hanabi," Hinata sternly interrupted. "I don't have a boyfriend and Naruto won't be coming over."

Her younger sister still seemed dead set on ignoring her and turned to Neji, hungry for more information, "What's he like?"

"A complete idiot." Neji answered.

Hanabi's face scrunched up and returned her attentions to Hinata, "Really? What the heck did you go getting involved with an idiot for?"

"He's not an idiot."

Neji scoffed and Hinata glared at him.

"He isn't all that bad," Neji relented. "Not my favorite person but he seems to make Hinata happy."

Hanabi's flames of curiosity were fed by his admission and she opened her mouth to shoot off another round of questions. Hinata instantly put an end to them, explaining, "Naruto is everyone's friend. He makes everyone happy."

"Well how is he going to be with you if he's so busy being everyone's friend?"

She rolled her eyes, "He's not. Naruto and I rarely see each other anymore so it's really nothing to worry about."

Neji of course noticed the melancholy lilt in her statement, giving her a look before resuming conversation with Hanabi.

Later that evening, Neji paid her a visit in her room. "I know it's not my place," He began respectfully. "But really. How are you two?"

Hinata chuckled dismissively, "You say 'you two' as if we're a unit."

"You can't really blame me can you? I'm not blind, Hinata. One day you two are joined at the hip and then the next…"

She resumed brushing through her hair, giving her opportunity to stall as well. Setting her brush down she calmly stated, "I...um... We don't really hang out anymore."

"What'd he do?" Anyone who didn't know her cousin wouldn't hear the venom backing his tone.

"Nothing...It was act m—"

That didn't appease her cousin. "Hinata, if he did something I—"

"Thank you Neji, but I'm over it." And that was partially true.

"You know," She sighed, feeling like she owed her cousin some sort of explanation, "I admired him. Naruto."

"Yes, that was pretty clear."

Hinata shook her head, feigning off the embarrassed flush that was creeping up her neck, "Well, why is it that I pushed him away?I thought i cared about him, and i know I still do. I just couldn't..." She took a deep breath, "I forced my feelings onto him and that wasn't fair. I know that. I know I'm not the only girl who feels like this about him, I see it every day.

"Still though, we were friends. That's all Naruto was looking for in me and I blew it. I'm not saying that what I felt doesn't matter… At first I was angry at him for choosing his life over me. How crazy was that? I realized though that I'm upset at him for another reason: He seems to be going about his life like nothing happened and that hurt. It still does, and I'm allowing myself to be angry. I'm entitled to that, at least, I think.

"But it's strange," she continued, finding herself laughing. "I learned all that from him. Realizing that it's okay to feel what I feel and that the things that I do matter. A month ago, I didn't think I could reach my full potential without him at my side, but I realized a few weeks ago that I could. All this time I was capable of it. And there I was, moping around and didn't get to fully embrace my performance the other night.

"So now, I think, I'm going to stop trying so hard at becoming like him. Stop idolizing him and see him as an equal. Now I know that I'm capable of just as much and maybe I'll be someone who deserves someone like him because he's still a good person to me. And," Her voice lowered, "I still really miss him."

Neji stood for a moment, taking in all she said, "If it's any consolation, you're nothing like those girls."

She cocked her head in confusion, "Huh?"

"The ones who are always fighting for his attention. Your feelings aren't like theirs: shallow and insincere. It sounds like you've spent a lot of time thinking about this." He glanced at her, "You really like him don't you?"

Hinata bashfully nodded, tapping her fingers together, "That's why, I'm going to try and talk to him. When I'm ready. I still need a bit more time, but I want us to be alright."

"Well just know that I'm proud of you Hinata," Taking his leave for the night. He turned to her from the doorway, "Despite my better judgement, I'm rooting for you two."

Hinata sighed once he'd left. It'd been weeks since they'd talked. At first it was Hinata, hiding, too conflicted to face him but then she realized that Naruto seemed to have been avoiding her too.

Maybe it was her imagination but after about two weeks, she could've sworn that was him in the hall who suddenly retreated the other way.

It had been long enough though, and Hinata made the decision to step out of character and be the one to fix things. She wanted her friend back.

…

The task was easier said than done. Even though Naruto was the tallest, and loudest when he wanted to be, person she knew, Hinata couldn't find him anywhere that week.

It dawned on her that he was probably busy with his team and other responsibilities and that she might not have the opportunity to talk with him any time soon.

It was Saturday— but most importantly _the_ Saturday that would determine the next four years of her life— and she was visiting Kurenai before Neji took her to her audition.

Her teacher was in her office and grinned widely when Hinata entered the room.

"Are you ready?" She asked. Kurenai was practically vibrating with joy.

Hinata shrugged sheepishly, "As ready as I'll ever be."

Kurenai fixed her with a stern glare, "Hinata…"

"I'm kidding, I'm pretty… confident, actually. A little, I suppose. Nervous too. Can I be nervous and prepared at the same time?"

"Of course," she laughed. The ruby eyed woman wrapped Hinata in a quick hug, "Just know that all of us here are rooting for you. We know you'll do great."

She parted from her teacher after several thank yous and good lucks from the latter. Other than Naruto, Kurenai was one of the most influential people in her life. The woman had been the first of her teachers in all her years of dance that she'd really connected with. She'd carefully undone all of Hinata's reservations and insecurities about her skill as a dancer and she owed a large part of her newly found confidence to her.

But walking down the halls, Hinata didn't know how to feel with such a contrast of emotions surging through her. Her heart was racing and her hands held a slight tremor but she felt as sure and as prepared as she could be, as she had _ever_ been.

Unfortunately though, the pounding of her heart was derailing her from her good spirits. She took several deep breaths walking down the hall. In and out. Soothing her nervous excitement.

She turned the corner heading towards the exit but stopped dead in her tracks.

Suddenly her palms were sweatier and her hands began their nervous fidgeting. No Hinata, she told herself. She was fine. She steeled her hands around the straps of her bag, and stared up at her obstacle.

Naruto seemed just as surprised as she did and stammered, "O-Oh. H-Hey, Hinata."

...

Two weeks ago, Naruto had said that he was going to make it right with Hinata as soon as possible.

It had been a month since they'd spoken.

Okay, okay so maybe he didn't mean "as soon as possible." Maybe he was aiming along the lines of "as soon as possible but not too soon because you still don't know how you're going to face her." As the end of March rolled around, he grew more and more busy which meant less of a chance to talk to Hinata.

He was sitting on the bus filled with his teammates, sulkingly looking out the window. He'd sequestered himself to the back seats, alone and brooding over the fact that he had no guts whatsoever, and time seemed to just run away.

"Naruto!" An eclectic voice shouted from over the seats.

He flinched, glancing up at Lee, "Geez, what?"

"Why such a long face? We are heading to face our opponents at Suna, the match will most definitely be epic! Surely you'll have plenty of opportunities to show your skills to the scouts."

Naruto rolled his eyes, turning back to the window, "I don't care about the scouts."

Unsurprisingly, his teammate gasped, and, to Naruto's annoyance, came to sit beside him, "But Naruto! You have the most promise and skill! I can hardly imagine the amount of offers you've received!"

Naruto slumped down in his seat. Sure he'd had lots of colleges from all over the country knocking on his door and begging that he play for their school, but none of the offers held any appeal to him. He told this to Lee.

"I don't really have anywhere special that I want to go. And who knows," he joked dryly. "Maybe a less than perfect high school education is all I need."

"But Naruto!" Lee exclaimed. Naruto clenched his eyes shut. He and Lee were good friends and all but man could he be loud.

"Leave him be," Kiba advised the pitcher. "He's in a _mood_."

"Is that true Naruto? What's the problem?"

His irritability was increasing by the minute. Why couldn't they just leave him alone?

"Nothing's wrong." He muttered.

Kiba snorted, "Bullshit." Chuckling followed and Naruto's eyes narrowed.

"Really Lee," Shikamaru turned in the seat in front of them. "There's no use in trying to console him. He's just pissy because Hinata dumped him."

In one swift movement, the unbothered Shikamaru was being hauled over the seat. Naruto growled in his face, "Wanna say that again?"

He rolled his eyes, "It was a joke, Naruto."

"Keep Hinata's name out of your goddamn mouth."

In return, a grin crept onto his face, "You've really got it bad don't you?"

Naruto had already sat down again, eyes suddenly wider. Everyone within the vicinity was glancing back at him, nosily awaiting an answer. He shifted uncomfortably. He didn't "have it bad." He just _felt_ bad was all. He'd ruined his friendship between Hinata and he hadn't had the nerve to apologize.

Instead of catering to them and their "jokes" he flipped his hood over his head and pulled the drawstrings closed.

Lee had taken that as hint enough and migrated back to his own seat. As soon as he was gone, Naruto withered in embarrassment. Was he really that transparent?

"_Not hungry, Naruto?" Sakura prodded once Sasuke had gone to pay for his and his girlfriend's meals. "That's unlike you."_

_He sighed, poking at his ramen, "Yeah, I haven't had much of an appetite lately."_

"_You're not sick or anything are you?"_

"_I mean… I don't think so."_

"_Does this have something to do with a certain someone?" Sakura arched an eyebrow._

_She read him like an open book (whether he wanted her to or not)._

"_Maybe." He muttered, flipping the noodles over in the broth._

"_Well I know exactly what you're feeling," she said pointedly. "Guilt."_

_He rolled his eyes. Yeah he felt guilty. He knew that. He'd felt guilt before but so much so to lose his appetite? Not quite._

"_Honestly, Naruto, do I really need to explain to you the importance of an apology—"_

"_It's not that Sakura." He tossed his chopsticks down, giving up on the meal. "I _know _what I did. I _know _I messed up bad. I know I need to apologize but I just can't." The pink haired girl didn't interrupt him as he continued his tangent. "It's like, every time I even think about going near her I kinda wanna throw up. It's not her I don't think, I'm pretty sure it's just me. Did I fuck up that bad that I can't even approach her? And then it's like I'm nervous or something all the time and it's driving me crazy. I really really want to talk to her and I have a shit ton of chances to do it but I look at her and I feel like running but not at the same time and my chest gets all tight and maybe I'm having a panic attack? But it's Hinata. Should she be giving me panic attacks, if that's even it?" He'd had a few of those and the symptoms were pretty similar. He needed a Sakura diagnosis and fast._

_Sakura though, had gone back to her meal, as if he hadn't just poured his soul out all over the counter for her to see._

"_Wha—!? Are you even listening? What's wrong with me?"_

"_Yes I'm listening Naruto." He could hear a smile in her voice. She glanced towards him, "You're not having a panic attack."_

"_Well what is it?"_

"_I've had it myself once. Trust me, you'll be alright." She took her time before turning in her chair to face him, "You're in love."_

_He almost fell out of his seat. Love? It was a very testy subject for him and even testier a subject to discuss with Sakura of all people._

"_L-Love?" He stammered. "I'm like 18 Sakura, I-I'm not… How can I be...?"_

_She shrugged, "Beats me. We're both crazy is what it seems like, but all the signs are there."_

_He was really on the brink of losing his mind. Wouldn't he know if he were in..._that_. Surely it wasn't something that made you panicked and shaky and made you not want to eat ramen, right? _

_Seeing his confusion Sakura reasoned with him, "Think about it. Why do you think you feel the way you do. Nervous. Panicky. Seeing her and wanting to run away but also wanting to be by her side. You feel bad but I think you feel this bad because you like her. You care about her and what she thinks, often to an irrational extent. Does that sound about right?"_

_ Sakura smiled at his silence, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder, "I'm really happy for you Naruto. I'm glad it's Hinata and not one of those annoying brats who're always chasing you around. You really picked the cream of the crop."_

_Like…Hinata. Did he...like her? Like… _like _her like her?_

_Sure he had enjoyed her company, much more so than anyone else's in fact, and he liked hearing her laugh, and making her smile, and now that he thought about it, those faint heart skips he felt around her every now and then weren't just the after effects of having ran to meet her now were they?_

"You know Naruto," Shikamaru came a half hour later. "If it's any consolation, Hinata probably doesn't hate you as much as you think."

He scoffed, finding that hard to believe. Shikamaru must've thought himself quite the relationship expert simply because his girl was a whole year (and _a half_, Shikamaru emphasized) older than them. He could be such an ass about that sometimes.

Naruto buried himself deeper in his seat.

"Look I'm serious."

"And _I'm_ serious. Hinata has good enough reason to hate me. I totally fucked up."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes with a huff, "Come on Naruto, you choose now to be all serious and depressed?"

The blond thought about all the futile attempts to try and see her and deflated even more. The funny part was that he hadn't even realized how much he relied on her. Just one "good morning" or her small wave would give him his strength for the day. He'd gone three and a half weeks without replenishment and was rapidly on the decline.

"Naruto…" His friend started. "Whether you think so or not, I know Hinata. She's physically incapable of hating you."

"Well she should." Naruto muddled stubbornly.

"This is such a drag," Shikamaru was beginning to lose his cool, not being innately sympathetic. "I'm trying to help _you_ out."

"_I_ didn't ask you to do that."

"God, you're a lost fucking cause. Fine, what the hell ever. Hinata hates you, you blew it, and now some suave debonair is going to whisk her away and marry her all because you chose to sit there like a coward. Is that what you wanted to hear?"

"I'm not a coward—"

"It sure as hell seems that way. As your friend I know you're better than this. When have you ever been even remotely afraid? Of _Hinata_ of all people. Grow a pair, man. As your manager though, I'm telling you you'd better shape up because this self pitying crap isn't going to cut it. I'll have your ass benched for the rest of the season."

Naruto closed his mouth and glanced at the back of the seat, and although his threats were almost always empty, once again, Shikamaru successfully shut him up.

His friend sighed before slumping back into his own seat, tiredly waving him off, "You'll understand when you're older."

He huffed at this, dismissing it as more of a joke than genuine advice.

"Hinata made you happy, man." Shikamaru said not too long after. "Happier than I've seen you. I didn't even think that was possible cause you're always happy, it's really annoying by the way. But really I think everything will work out, though."

Seeing that his friend had gone through such lengths as to holding a sentimental conversation with him, Shikamaru had semi-successfully kicked Naruto out of his slump. As much as Naruto wanted it, things weren't going to fix themselves on their own. So, taking a deep breath, he resolved that he'd go and talk to her after this game. The concept seemed simple enough. (Not.)

About an hour out, they stopped for gas and the team flooded into the convenience store.

He was waiting in line behind Choji when _it_ happened. The blond glanced over and saw that they had been selling freshly baked cinnamon rolls.

"Those are Hinata's favorites. With lots if icing," he thought offhandedly, initially not paying any real attention towards the fact.

Then he blinked and glanced over at the sign again.

His heart rate picked up in speed and suddenly the color seeped back into the world. Choji, sensing his sudden change in attitude, looked over at him after paying.

"Uh Naruto? You okay?"

"Yep," he grinned, grabbing an extra candy bar and slapped both a Twix and a Snickers onto the counter.

Choji seemed less than convinced, "Are you sure cause all of a sudden…"

"I'm fine Choji," he assured him. While the cashier rung him up, Naruto glanced outside. The sky even seemed clearer. "Man, it sure is a great day isn't it?"

"Oh boy, you finally lost it, didn't you?"

"Not at all," Naruto pocketed his purchase. "Now where do you think I could buy a car?"

Choji only looked more worried, "I'm going to get Shikamaru okay? Really Naruto you need to stop spending so much time in the sun."

Naruto rolled his eyes and exited the store, already booking an Uber.

It was strange really. He guessed Shikamaru was right about that understanding thing, even though he'd only aged like, two hours.

Somehow that simple little anecdote about Hinata slapped him right in the face and made him see things the way they were. He liked Hinata. A lot. Hell, he was in love with her, and as weird and strange as that initially seemed at first, it was a simple concept to him now.

She made him happy. She made his days a thousand times better. He felt like shit simply because he hadn't been around her. She made him feel warm inside and what the hell was he doing just sitting here? He had to tell her!

The bell from the door sounded shortly after that and soon he was joined by Choji, Shikamaru, and Kiba to boot.

"I'm telling you, he's lost it." Choji was saying.

Naruto chose to ignore them. He was in too good a mood.

"What're you doing, Naruto?" Shikamaru asked in that same tired voice he always used.

"Heading out," He answered, confirming his ride. "Kiba you think you could step in for me today?"

All three grew even more suspicious.

"What the hell do you mean? You can't miss this game!" Kiba told him.

He rolled his eyes, "I'll play the next one okay? It's just one game against Suna. You'll kick their asses without me."

"Where are you going?" Choji asked.

"I just got some stuff to do back home." Shikamaru caught his eye and understanding swept over his face. He shook his head and snorted, turning on his heel, "No use in trying to change his mind, you guys, stubborn as he is." He lazily threw a hand back, "Later." (Shikamaru would never admit it, but Naruto caught the sentiment in his seemingly nonchalant farewell.)

Kiba looked after him, dumbfounded. Choji glanced between the two before trailing after Shikamaru. Shikamaru had good instincts. No use in worrying if he was fine with it.

Kiba barked at him for a good part of ten minutes until his ride showed up. Naruto knew he was only trying to be a good friend but geez a little trust would've been nice.

"Look Kiba," he finally said, hoisting his bag over his shoulder. "I'm just going back home to take care of some stuff. If you're that worried they'll disqualify us or something, tell them I'm sick."

Kiba seemed to give up, "What the hell ever, man."

He sent his friend one of his signature Naruto Uzumaki Grins that Kiba hated so much, "Everything will be fine!"

...

"O-oh. Hey, H-Hinata."

..._Crap_. Looking at her now, right in the eye, a foot in front of him, he didn't think he could do this after all. Her lavender eyes had rendered him motionless. Quickly he avoided her gaze, staring straight at the floor. He hadn't planned to run into her like this. He had thought the whole thing out on the car ride there.

"Hi…" she said. She seemed startled and had every right to be. Right now he was supposed to be giving her this grand apology but there he stood, mouth clamped shut. He could feel the sweat building up on his palms.

"I uh," Naruto blinked himself out of his trance, "You look...good. I mean you look like you've been doing well."

(How was he slipping this horribly?)

Despite her stunned countenance she answered, "Oh, um...Thank you."

"Your audition is today." He stated, initially meaning to form it into a question but right now his brain was malfunctioning.

"Uh yeah, I'm on my way to it, actually."

That was the universal sign that he was supposed to be getting lost right about now. She had places to be and didn't have time to entertain him.

"I got you something," he blurted out. Naruto pulled the Twix out of his pocket and held it out to her.

"I know you said it was your favorite once, and I would've gotten you a cinnamon roll but they were out and well. Here." He, a coward, still couldn't look her in the eye. Her hands seemed to be his focus now. Progress was progress, though, right?

"Oh," she sounded surprised. "Thank you. I'm… You remembered?"

"What?" His eyes moved up a bit. "Of course I did."

She quickly turned apologetic, "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean that you wouldn't it's just that you surprised me…"

They stood in silence, both not knowing what to say. Naruto took a deep breath, hearing Shikamaru's voice ringing in his mind, "_Grow a pair, man."_

"I also got you these," He pulled the bouquet of slightly squashed sunflowers he'd been concealing from behind his back. "They're not roses or anything special," (gas stations only held so many amenities) "but I just wanted to wish you good luck and all…"

Hinata carefully took them, holding them close, her eyes not leaving them as she spoke, "They're beautiful." She looked up at him and he watched as a smile bloomed (Naruto's knees buckled a bit). "Thank you, Naruto. You've...always been kind to me. Thank you again, really."

That's a lie. He'd been a complete ass to her. She deserved better, and he was going to try to do so.

He rubbed the back of his neck, "It wasn't anything really."

"I appreciate it a lot." She bowed her head in thanks. Glancing at her phone she apologetically looked up at him, "Neji's outside...I should get going."

"Oh... I mean, yeah, of course."

She nodded, walking past him. Naruto stood, mental battle ensuing.

"Hinata, wait." He whipped around, grabbing her hand. He mentally slapped himself. Why the hell had he done that? She had an audition to go to and obviously no time to listen to him. Not to mention he was sure his hand was overly warm (not that it was any better than his face right now).

"I-I wanted to...To say… I mean, I…"

He shouldn'tve been that terrified, but he was. Why? It was just Hinata.

Just Hinata.

The kindest, sweetest girl he'd ever met. Always had been. Not to mention, talented, and smart, and an amazing cook, and thoughtful, and beautiful, and—

"I'm sorry," he finally said. "I'm really sorry, Hinata."

"F-For what?" She had tensed up ever since he'd grabbed her hand. Right now, she looked like a deer in headlights.

"For everything. For ignoring you when all you ever did was care about me. I suck. I really do suck and I'm sorry."

"No, it's—"

"Stop," He interrupted. She was going to apologize, like she always did. For once he was going to be the one excessively apologizing. "I'm the one who's sorry. Let me have that, okay?"

She gave a small nod, eyes shining.

"I know that I've been terrible, I've been beating myself up about it for a while, but that's my fault," Naruto reassured her. "I want to be better, if that's alright with you. Cause, despite how I've acted, I really care about you." (Yes, "care" was the word he was going to use for now. One confession at a time.)

She flinched as if it was some foreign concept, disbelief written all over her face.

"What...what is it?" His voice reflected his disappointment. He'd pictured this going way differently. Now everything was falling apart and maybe he shouldn't have even said anything—

"No! It's nothing!" She shook her head. "It's just, I…" Her voice had grown soft. Like it used to be. "I'm… glad. But I-I wanted to say something too…" She clenched their still clasped hands together ever so slightly, "I'm sorry for not being honest with you. I-I still have a little trouble with being honest about my feelings especially if it makes you happy… I-I was scared and I pushed you away. I'm so sorry. I'm going to work on being more confident for you. I really want to be friends again."

Naruto blinked. Hinata was perfect in his eyes, and always had been. The way he saw it was that she didn't have anything to apologize for. But he knew Hinata and he knew how perceptive she was.

A sudden weight was lifted from his chest and he could finally breathe. For the first time he smiled that soft that only she had seen and things felt like they were going to be okay again. Hopefully better than okay.

They were staring at each other for some time before a loud buzzing startled them. They hastily released the other's hand, having not realized they were still joined. Hinata fumbled through her bag and answered her phone.

"Sorry for making you wait, Neji… Yes. I'm on my way." She hung up and adjusted the flowers in her arms, "That was Neji… I guess I um, should go now."

"Yeah," He nodded. "You'll do amazing, I know it."

Hinata beamed, "Thank you." She waved at him before making her way towards the exit once more. He saw her hesitate a moment, hand on the door.

"I'll…" She turned around to face him, "See you later."

It sounded like a fact. A certainty. He nodded and watched as she finally left.

…

Hinata had blown her audition out of the water, but he had no doubts about that.

A few of Naruto's teammates were still a little pissed at him for leaving all of a sudden with no definitive answer as to why he'd done so. He'd shrug off their badgering, sometimes notice Hinata walking across the way, and then he'd slip away to go talk to her.

He gave her her space, of course. He was still playing it safe, wanting her to feel comfortable around him. That lasted about two weeks and he threw caution to the wind. He needed to talk to her. For real _real_ this time.

No time like the present, he thought as he headed up the stairs to Hinata's dorm, admittedly not doing much in calming his nerves.

He knocked on her door and there came a "just a minute." from the other side.

Shortly after, Hinata answered. Her face was gleaming with sweat and her hair had been pulled up and he thought she looked beautiful.

He gulped, taking a tiny step back.

"Oh hi, Naruto." She greeted.

"Hey Hinata," He congratulated himself for keeping his voice steady. This thing he had for Hinata was absolutely not disappearing over time. (If he was being honest, he didn't want it to.)

"Thank you for uh," she shifted her footing. "Coming. I appreciate the help."

"No problem," (it gave him the perfect opportunity to talk to her) "What did you want me to do?"

She blinked as if confused at first, "Oh, right. Yeah, sorry. I needed some help moving boxes."

"Oh yeah sure," She had moved aside to let him in. He looked around her almost barren room.

"Yeah," Hinata had been saying, she sounded a bit out of breath. "It's a little more work when I don't have a roommate so thank you."

"Sure. Hey Hinata? What are you packing for?" School didn't end for another two months.

She taped down a box before replying, "I uh… Otsutsuki granted me early admission, so I'm moving back home for a little while then...leaving."

His chest tightened and he tried not to let his face fall. He cleared his throat, attempting to not sound too bothered, "What about graduation?"

She didn't meet his eyes, "Headmaster Sarutobi said I could still graduate. He'd send me all the paperwork but it wouldn't interfere…"

Internally he wished that the old man had made a big deal about it (like he did everything else), but Naruto made the executive decision to not tell her what he really thought about it. He wasn't going to guilt trip her. So instead, he smiled, "That's great, Hinata!"

She however didn't seem to satisfied with his answer either, but she soon did just as he'd done, smiling and the forcing a "Yeah."

"I wish you would've told me sooner though," He said keeping his light humor. "I would've taken you out to dinner or something."

"Sorry," She shrugged sheepishly and turned towards her task at hand. "I just got the news a few days ago. That...would've been nice."

They didn't say much after that. Hinata gave him a few instructions and they began their separate tasks. The problem with that was that they were done not long after. Hinata had already started packing before he arrived and there was only a few more of her things that needed to be boxed, but neither admitted that they had nothing else to do. Awkward anxiety had been crackling in the air ever since she told him, making the whole truly-making-things-right with her a little more difficult to discuss.

So while the two shifted things that didn't need to be shifted and unpacked things that had already been packed, Naruto tried to formulate what he was going to say.

"Hey," he began. This was beginning to sound just as awkward as he had expected. "Are we...We're cool right?"

She cocked her head in confusion.

"I mean from before. When I was being an idiot."

Hinata smiled, shaking her head, "Of course we are. I wouldn't ask just anyone to help me pack."

"Just idiots huh?"

She laughed a bit, rubbing her arm nervously, "Are...I-I mean am I cool? With you?"

He groaned in mock annoyance, "Obviously, Hinata." He added in a more sincere tone, "We're definitely cool."

"Okay," she smiled quietly to herself. "Good."

She resumed stacking her books and Naruto should have felt much better. She was leaving after all and that made him feel crappy. A little more crappier than before even.

He resumed moving her boxes at a much slower rate.

"I have a confession." She stated abruptly.

That sounded ominous. "Yeah…?"

"I...well. I didn't ask you to come so you could help me pack and I know, I'm sorry. I lied, I'm trying to be more direct and well anyway...I had a question for you too."

"What is it?" He asked the question easily enough but his heart was hammering out of his chest. His mind kept going through scenarios where Hinata asked him to back off, he was smothering her. To admit that they actually weren't cool and she wanted to politely ask him to get the fuck out of her life. And why wouldn't she? After all the shit he'd done— he gave her that scar on her forehead for god's sake— she had every right to.

"I wanted to know what you thought. Do you think I should go?"

"Huh?" That wasn't what he was expecting. "Yeah, you've always wanted to go there. Why wouldn't you want to go?"

She shook her head, "No, that's not what I mean. I got everyone else's opinions and they were happy and all, said I should go, but...do _you_...want me to leave?"

"Oh…" Shit, what the hell was he supposed to say? Especially with her staring at him like that (he was discovering that this was forever going to be his weakness). No, he didn't want her to go. Not at all. In fact he felt like getting on his knees and begging her not to go. But he had to be reasonable.

"Um...well…" Even with his brain urging him to tell her yes, he couldn't do it. He couldn't lie. He sighed, "No. Not really."

"Oh." She said herself.

"Look, Hinata, I don't want this whole decision being based off what I say or feel."

Hinata looked like she was going to cry, but Naruto, whether it was tearing him up inside or not, had to give her some tough love. She was prone to making decisions based on the well being of others and Naruto just wanted her to look out for herself.

"But the thing is…" She almost whispered. "I don't want to leave. Not yet. I have the option to start in the fall like normal. I want to finish high school. I want to graduate with my friends… With you. I-I know you don't want me to decide whether I go or stay based off of your answer but you mean so much to me and…" Her chest was heaving heavily as she stared up at him, searching his eyes for a reaction.

He'd started at that. Wait, was Hinata saying that… All of a sudden that letter made even more sense and wasn't as platonic as he'd initially thought. That was good because it made him feel so much better knowing that _this_ wasn't one sided.

In that moment he was speechless, which apparently was the wrong move to make as Hinata quickly back tracked, "I'll miss all of you. High school is a um one of a kind experience and I don't want to miss out on it, you know?"

He had to snicker at her involuntary use of his catchphrase. Now she looked like she wanted to jump out her window.

"That's good," he told her in relief. "I really want to be with you too."

Her eyes widened now as if she couldn't believe her ears, "What did you just say?"

Now he was blushing and there was no way he could repeat himself as effortlessly as he had done before, "I-I don't want you to go. Cause...I wanna be with you for as long as I've got."

"Oh," she repeated, staring down at her feet. "That's um…" Naruto would've been worried if he hadn't seen the deep blush on her face.

They'd both opened their mouths to speak but were interrupted by a knock on the door.

Naruto and Hinata flinched, smiling sheepishly when their eyes met. She scampered over to the door and Kiba stood on the other side.

"Hey Hinata—"

He blinked, looking past her and at Naruto. As expected his eyes narrowed, "Naruto."

"Hey Kiba." He greeted normally, attempting to diffuse the awkwardness. They hadn't been doing anything wrong and— no offense to his friend— Naruto wasn't scared of Kiba or anything. He was just worried that he could see the prominent blush on his face and take it the wrong way, putting Hinata in an uncomfortable situation.

"Hinata," Naruto made his way over to the door. "I'll come back and help you with the rest later."

"Uh...okay…"

"We're still on for ramen though, right?" He asked casually. "Around 6?"

Hinata blinked, catching on momentarily. He could tell she was masking the full capacity of her smile, "Yeah, that's right."

"Well," he clapped Kiba on the shoulder, "See ya, dog breath."

Kiba was far too confused to retaliate as Naruto sauntered down the hall, heart fuller than it'd ever been.

…

The sensation was oddly familiar, yet instead of a creeping feeling of dread, her whole body was alight with shock, the good kind though.

She recalled the past few weeks with a smile. They were talking again, but she was always just a little guarded around him and she guessed he'd figured that out. Hinata really wanted to be friends again and she wanted to show him that she had changed. She was going to be more upfront and then maybe just maybe she'd be able to confess her feelings to his face.

Naruto was different too though. But it was only because she started to take a moment to stop and look at him. The real him.

Hinata first noticed it whenever she spoke. He looked at her. Like, _really_ looked at her. His eyes felt like they were boring into her soul and normally she'd flush and look away but nowadays she met his gaze, warmth taking over.

She realized then that this wasn't any new occurrence. Hinata had caught glances of the look before. Those times she laughed at something off-putting he'd said but quickly shut her mouth because he'd been staring at her so intently that she believed her laughter had just thrown him off. And then there was those moments where he just looked a little brighter than normal. He must have just had a good day, she'd densely assumed.

Now Hinata took a moment to realize that there was only good will and tenderness in his eyes, not the perplexity or confusion she'd thought it to have been.

Hinata retrieved the vase she had packed away and placed it on her desk. She'd be staying for a while yet it seemed.

"Are you going to tell me what's going on, Nata?" Kiba asked impatiently. "And why are you unpacking?"

"Nothing's going on Kiba," she told him calmly. Perhaps she'd looked a little too blissful because Kiba wasn't convinced.

"If he touched you, I swear to god…"

"Kiba…" She scolded. "I'm not a baby. I can take care of myself. You know Naruto's not like that."

"Well I don't know what to think anymore! You two don't tell me anything. You're always sneaking around and acting weird these days."

Hinata winced, she supposed she had been keeping Kiba in the dark. "Yes you're right, I'm sorry. If you really want to know...he's just taking me out to dinner. That's all."

"'Out to dinner,?'" Kiba echoed. "Wait...are you two like, dating?"

Maybe she wasn't as ready to tell Kiba as she thought. Her skin darkened and her stutter made a reappearance, "W-Well n-not really, he, um just asked me to dinner."

"That's…" He slapped a hand over his forehead. "Wow. That's weird. He _was_ always looking at you I guess, but I never thought anything about it."

As she collected the sunflowers she wrapped, preparing to return them to the vase, she wondered, did Naruto ever catch the way _she_ looked at _him_?

She hoped he knew how much she cared about him. It was a little too early to determine that he should know the intensity of her feelings just yet but she hoped that they could do this together.

Kiba surprised her by saying, "That's good, Nata. Really, I'm happy for you guys. As long as he doesn't pull anything, I'm all for it. Maybe it'll drive all those harpies away from practice."

Hinata was sure that it wouldn't, but had to laugh. Although she'd initially thought he'd suspected something between the two, he seemed surprisingly oblivious. Still she was glad she had Kiba's approval.

Placing her flowers on the windowsill, Hinata looked out to the sidewalk below. Naruto was there, the biggest smile she'd ever seen was plastered on his face, and for the first time, Hinata could fully accept that it was because of her.

….

"_Did you hear about Naruto?"_

"_Him and that girl!"_

"_Naruto and that Hyuga!"_

"_Yeah I think her name's Hinata."_

"_They've been close for a while now."_

"I _think they're cute together."_

It wasn't long before the whole school caught wind of Naruto and Hinata. It had been received with widespread shock. Naruto was so Naruto and Hinata was so..._Hinata_. They were the unlikeliest of pairings.

Once the general surprise of it all died down, everyone on campus had been split: one side that was genuinely happy for the two and the other who looked on with envious glares. But gradually, Naruto and Hinata eventually turned them. Not all, but some.

They saw the way she lit up like a Christmas tree when he came and surprised her from behind. They saw how closely they stood together as they walked. (Another look and one could see their entwined fingers.) They saw those moments in which Naruto would steal a kiss or a peck here or there and how undeniably happy he looked. They saw their love and eventually couldn't help but be happy for the two.

Those who couldn't, well, Naruto would be gone in a month anyway. On to the next heartthrob.

The two later went off to college just as everyone had seen them leave: hand in hand, Naruto finding the place that he wanted to be. Near Hinata. Well, figuratively so, his campus was all the way across the city, but a couple of bus rides were nothing for the two.

A few years after that and they were married. They were still just kids as far as anyone could tell but no one could discourage them from the decision, it'd be stupid to seeing that they had been made for each other.

They finished out college and Naruto eventually made major leagues and Hinata danced professionally.

Half a year of marriage brought a son and then two years later, a daughter. As much as the parents hoped and prayed, shellfish allergy was inheritable and both got it. A fucking nightmare _that_ was. But Boruto and Himawari both were beautiful and the best kids in the whole world and the two couldn't have loved two beings more than they did their children.

After a few fulfilling years of dancing for crowds of hundreds and living her dream, Hinata deciding to take a break for a while, became an instructor. Naruto still wanted her to pursue her dream because her decision had been largely based on the fact that they had two kids, and it didn't seem fair that she give up her dreams while he continued his. After he'd vow to putting a hold on his career, she'd always reassure him that she could always go back. And besides, she was happy where she was.

The two had always been destined to do great things, whether that be practicing from dusk until dawn or having back to back shows, nonstop, for three weeks, and with that came the long hours and erratic schedules that made up the infancy of their marriage. But, at the end of a long day(s) away from each other, the two always knew the best part awaited them at home in each other's arms.

"Hinata, you awake?" Naruto whispered to her one early morning.

She hadn't been, but in half consciousness she murmured an, "Mhm." Turning in his grasp to face him, she found his bright blue eyes fixated on her intently.

"What is it?" She rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

"When did you first know that you loved me?"

Hinata blinked, confused at first. It couldn't have been later than 6.

"That's an odd question."

He chuckled, twirling a strand of hair around her finger, "Well humor me."

If she was being honest with herself, it was back in freshman year of high school. As unrealistic as it sounded, it was love at first sight. Well...maybe not _love_ love yet. Deep regard, possibly, she was only 14, after all. What did she know about love?

As it so happened, the following years proved how much Hinata had underestimated her own judgement and truly acknowledged that she was in love with the friendly, outgoing, spectacular boy that was now her husband. But...she wasn't sure if she wanted to tell him all that.

"Sometime during high school." She settled on.

The corners of his lips turned upward in glee.

"W-What about you?" Hinata asked. She was aware how timid she had gotten and cursed herself for it. "When did you know you loved me?"

He leaned his head back in thought, having to dig through the recesses of their time together. Every hello, every goodbye, every glance, every tender embrace… And he just couldn't find any one specific moment.

"Senior year. Although," She flinched at the word. "I'm not really sure when exactly it happened which is weird. I look back and all of a sudden I couldn't stop thinking about you. You meant the world to me."

Blushing, she busied herself with tracing circles on Naruto's chest, "Can I ask you something? Do you believe in love at first sight?"

"Huh? Why?"

"Because...that's when I fell in love with you. The first moment we met. I guess that's a little silly though considering we were so young…"

"The way I see it," He brought her closer. "You got a head start in loving me I guess but now I think that I've made up for lost time with how much I love you now, you know?"

He suddenly looked down at her, nervousness etched on his face, "I mean...do you think I have?"

Feeling the tears brimming in her eyes, all she could do was nod, kissing him thoroughly.

Yeah, she was very happy where she was.

…

**Wow, I edited the shit out of this let me tell you (all the while with the **_**best**_ **headache, no joke I got so much done)... But anyway! That's a wrap! How'd you guys like it? Enjoy the Sasuke cameos? It was a little challenge of mine to see if I could write a fic w/o primarily including him but don't worry, he'll be coming up in other projects. (Along with Toneri who I thought it was too late to throw in.) I know this last one ended up kinda long (nearly 9K) but it would have bothered me immensely to have six parts instead of five. **

**Really though, tell me what you all thought! I had so much fun writing this and learned and grew a lot too. I know I'm a little late to the fandom and it's not its heyday but I wanna give the rest of you as much as I can for this fandom shall live on!**

**For real, it's crazy to think that this started out as a draft of many that I hadn't really planned on publishing but here we are. I'm really happy with how this turned out! I've still got a lot in store for the future so keep a lookout!**

**Yours,**

**Rin**


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